When the Styx Runs Red
by Dhagon
Summary: Dying changes a man. Having your soul nearly eaten even more so. Is it any wonder that when given a second chance I sought to ensure neither ever had a chance of happening to me again? I was lucky enough to be reincarnated into a kind supportive family. Too bad they were all insane. At least I fit right in. SI. (more campaign log than story)
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I am not Gary Gygax or Ed Greenwood

Prologue

Belshazu gloated as he stepped through the portal in Stygia. It was his most dearly kept secret and precious resource. It was only of the very few portals that was semi-stable and reached into another planar wheel, although it wasn't much of one.

Imagine. Only having three planes and those only separated by good and evil? Where was law and chaos represented? Where were the elements? The forces of life and death?

No. The overgod there was obviously lazy. Why else could he have been preying on souls there for so long without being caught?

How he loved stealing souls from alternative prime material planes. It was particularly satisfying when the souls had never even heard of the Abyss. As it was he considered it only fair since they had a hell. Of course it was against divine law, but he hadn't risen to the rank of glabrezu by following rules.

Besides why should he limit himself? The pansy devils restricted themselves to bargaining with fresh souls. Soft and weak. Using cheap tactics to try and hide the fact they're naturally inferior.

He growled as he remembered the last time I fought in the Blood War. The swarms of arrows and rows of spears. Cowards. Too scared to face him and die the way they should. So lost was he in his memories he barely noticed as he took a familiar path a stepped through another portal into the Bone Castle.

The drop caught his attention and he reflexively activated his ring of flying. He glanced warily around to see if anything inside the enormous cavern had spotted him. As he glided down the portal he came through shrank in size until it was one of innumerable glowing dots in the ceiling.

Belshazu paused as looked down. Actually, while since he was here he might as well steal a few more from the Wall of the Faithless. It's not like they're going any good slowly dissolving in there. Why they might actually be grateful for his heroic rescue.

Laughing as his own joke Belshazu teleported down to the massive translucent wall. His two massive upper arms tore at the wall, digging deep into it's oozing substance. His lower arms held the sack open as he shoveled in souls until it was overflowing.

It was the sound of hoof beats that alerted him.

Here in the realm of the dead only one creature makes that sound. Spectral Riders, the undead cavalry that ceaselessly patrol along the Wall of the Faithless. One on one they weren't a match for a true demon such as himself, but they fought much like the cowardly devils.

Cursing Belshazu closed his sack and started running. If he was lucky he'd be able to make to a portal before too many of them arrived. He felt hopeful when only a half dozen rounded the corner. Looks like he won't take too much damage before escaping.

How he longed to turn around and slaughter the pathetic undead chasing him. He wanted to rage and fight, to stand victorious over their mangled bodied. He couldn't afford too though. More would be coming. A fight would delay him.

Already he was tensing in anticipation. Reminding himself that he needed to ignore the puny blows and keep moving. So deep was his concentration that only instinct caused him to dodge.

He didn't avoid it entirely. The lance scraped along his side, actually managing to wound him.

He lost control.

Belshazu reared back and roared. A nightmare! Myrkul was using flying cavalry now. It was only the one and he was determined that it was going to be one less then he had before.

He braced himself when the aerial lancer came around for another pass. Just when the lance reached him his upper arms lashed out. His pincers closed around the legs of the nightmare and the horse faded into smoke even as it screamed.

The rider tumbled to the ground and he took great pleasure in stepping on him and crushing him into the ground. Serpents made from bones tore trough the ground and attempted to engulf him.

He struggled upwards, his pincers easily cutting serpents in half as he attempted to fly away. He still couldn't teleport, not if he wanted to keep his stolen souls. Besides there wasn't any point in trying to avoid attention now.

The first of the cavalry had reached him and he growled as he charged through them. His greater bulk and strength easily allowing him to toss them aside.

Belshazu cursed when a missed strike tore open his bag. He hesitated but more spectral riders were showing up and soon liches would follow. There wasn't any point now.

Bitter and enraged he fled, never noticing the swirling pool of wild magic that erupted behind him, consuming the souls he left behind.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

For Authrar Harpell life was good. She had the wind in her hair the scent of something new and exciting before her. That would have been normal twenty years ago when she was adventuring, but she was almost forty now and long since retired. Further, she wasn't riding a horse but sitting inside her tavern.

Of course Authrar was a Harpell so tavern might be understating it. As far as she knows it was the only purely magical festhall in the realms. Everything edible was generated magically. Mostly from a multitude of items imbued with various Create Food and Water spells.

Early in her career Authrar had noticed each region had it's own version of the Create Food and Water spell. The fair was always fairly simple, but the variety between them was what captured her attention. A few years later along with a ton of research and the Ivy Festhall was born.

Authrar had sunk the majority of her not inconsiderable fortune into her setup so she was quite proud of it's success. The best part from her point of view was the abundance of magical items created an area of high magic. Which was why her lab was located inside the basement.

It was there that she conducted her experiments. While she was primarily obsessed with food by no means had she escaped the Harpell tendency towards wild magic. She just had a predilection towards trying to eat all over her odder results.

This time though she wasn't attempting to conjure some exotic tasty beast. No she was trying to find her husband. The idiot had the gall to banish himself! And just before the annual family meeting! He knows she hates showing up alone! How dare he run away. Again.

Determined to summon her wayward husband back and force him to do the accounting, Authrar carefully worked through her latest ritual. The past three had failed, but the spent magic lingered in the air. Eventually something will work and then she'll be able to gloat about foiling his latest escape attempt.

Authrar chanted fervently as she struggled to focus the ever increasing energy into the ritual circle. This time it was sure to work. She was not about to let him win again.

When the circle started glowing she grinned. Looks like third no, fourth times the charm. Suddenly the circle pulsed and the magic surged throughout the room.

Authrar cackled, it looks like the ritual was working even better then she anticipated! Now all she had to do was record the results. Maybe she can make her husband do that?

The explosion caught her completely by surprise.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I don't remember much of what happened after I died. Maybe it was the shock of actually dying. All I remember was sudden blaring of a truck horn, drifting somewhere and then fear.

A massive figure appeared in front of me. Easily a dozen feet tall with vaguely goat-like face. I actually thought he was the devil. I may also have said that part out loud.

He was definitely not happy about that. I didn't catch much from his rant. I didn't speak whatever language he was using, but I recognized a few words. Tanari. Baatezu.

And I thought _no way_.

A closer look showed he had four arms. The upper two ended in pincers and the lower two were much smaller and looked almost human. He also had hooves instead of feet. And I realized what I saw.

Glabrezu. A demon from dungeons and dragons. One of the stronger ones too.

Either I have a problem with keeping quiet or he can read my thoughts. He actually chuckled and patted me on the head when I realized what he was. And then I panicked.

Demons only steal souls for one reason. Fuel. Fuel for lots of different purposes but none of them good for the actual souls.

Sadly my powers as a disembodied spirit were horribly lacking. I think I wiggled in his grasp. Maybe. It didn't help that I was not basically a head mounted on the body of a short squat worm.

Yep. I'm a soul larvae.

My struggled accomplished nothing and I ended up being shoved into a sack full of other soul larvae. Being stuck inside a confined space filled with gross writhing forms was not fun. It almost seemed like some kind of weird torture aimed as phobias.

No light, trapped in a small space and covered in bugs. Yep, of such things are nightmares made.

I don't know how long I spent inside the sack. I dreaded arriving even as I wanted to hurry up just to get out. Of course when it does open I'm not freed. No, more souls are piled on top of me along with a disgusting mess of what feels like rubber cement.

When the sack is torn open moments later I leap for joy. Then immediately try to flatten myself to try and hide. All around me are various undead. In the distance I can see an enormous castle made from bone.

Great. I'm in Myrkul's realm and since I didn't worship any of the faerun gods I'm going to be enslaved or used as building materials.

Even though it caught me by surprise I welcomed the explosion of chaotic energy that erupted from beneath me. At least things can't get any worse.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Authrar woke up to the sound of groaning. Not only was she making that annoying sound but so was the room. Horrified realization had her spitting out a passwall as fast as she could.

Pressed as she was fort time she cast it directly beneath her. The magical pit formed just in time to swallow her before her festhall collapsed.

Safe inside the magically generated space Authrar took a moment to grieve. The ritual was working. She could feel it. The only reason for it to have failed was if Barlaam had died.

She was a widow now.

Absentmindedly she dimension doored to just in front of her building. She glared at what she saw. The emergency levitation charms were supposed to support it in case of something like this. Either she didn't use enough or the explosion destroyed some of them.

The building, instead of collapsing, had just sunk down. Now her beloved festhall was partially buried. There wasn't even a door that was usable anymore! And of course seen had seen first hand that the basement was gone.

Widowed and homeless all at once.

Just great.

Annoyed Authrar climbed through a window. Noting while she did so that she was still very stiff and sore. Surveying the building showed that the actual tavern wasn't too bad. Mostly just things knocked over. It was good that it was early. At this time of day only Adanac would have shown up.

"Hey! Adanac! You alright down there?" She really hoped so. Killing the only son of the mayor would be bad for business, accidentally or not. Not to mention he was her little brother.

Family was important. Even if they were boring and normal.

"What in the nine hells happened?" Ooh. That's not good. Adanac usually had the same stoic temperament as their father Darnthel. He only starts cursing when he's really really angry.

"The tavern collapsed. A ritual I was attempting blew up." She hurried on. "Barlaam ran off again. I wanted to summon him back for the annual gathering."

Adanac sighed. He could easily see what had happened. Barlaam was notoriously reclusive and hated anything that even smacked of a party. Authrar liked crowds and always tried to bring her husband with her. Not for the first time he wondered how they had ended up together.

When he saw Authrar climbing through the window, he paused. "Are you sure you should be doing that in your condition?"

Authrar looked genuinely confused before looking down in shock. Adanac felt a headache coming on. Considering he saw her pretty much every day and the leather armor she insisted in always wearing, he was confident she wasn't in the advanced stages of pregnancy yesterday or probably even a few hours ago.

"Hey look at that! I knew Barlaam wouldn't just leave me alone! He really was the best!"

Adanac groaned again, this time in mental pain. Only in his family could finding themselves suddenly pregnant not be a cause for alarm.

Authrar didn't pay him any attention. She was happily humming to her stomach and the baby inside. She was going to be the best mommy ever!

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I'm not sure what I expected the explosion to do, but this most certainly was not it!

It actually makes me wonder if a diety is mocking me. Why? Because sitting in front of me was a character creation screen. And not just any screen, but the one from Baldur's Gate.

I'm not sure, but I really hope I'm not going to be a bhaalspawn. That...would not be good. Specifically because pretty much all of them end up dying. And the one I know did survive was the main character of the game.

That game was hard. Sure I loved it to bits and played it through multiple times, but I remember reloading a lot.

I stare at the screen for quite awhile before I notice movement. It's numbers. Counting down. Crap, i'm on a timer.

I quickly select male. I was born male and definitely thought of myself as male. Not changing that.

Race though. I rarely played as a human in DnD. The other races just had too many advantages for me. There were also all those racial classes. I was very happy to see so many options available. I was a bit sad no race with a level adjustment were available, but I guess drow would probably be a bad choice in case I was spawned in a drow city instead of Candlekeep.

I went with sun elf. I love their boost to intelligence and if I am born in a community of them, Evermeet is pretty safe.

The next option was favored class, which let me know I was definitely not using second edition rules. Which was good because it's been a few decades since I had used them.

I of course went with wizard. Casters for the win! At least if I survive long enough. Still, the opportunity to weild actual magic was too much to pass up.

My alignment was already selecte and I couldn't change it either. I guess it's based off my personality though since Neutral Evil is usually what I play as. My only real complaint is that paladins are going to be annoying to deal with.

Now is where I intend to use the bulk of my time limit. Ability scores. And it's set up just like in the game. Ironically the initial spread is the very standard spread of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8. So it was looking more and more like I might be a Bhaalspawn. Which I really hope isn't the case. Depending on how it works I could end up a toddler facing Sarevok. Which would be suicide.

I press reroll like mad. Just in case I really need to max my ability scores. Or at least as many of them as possible. I keep an eye on the timer but it actually doesn't take me too long to get numbers I can live with.

It's nowhere near maximum, but it's close enough for me. Strength was my lowest at 13. Constitution was the second lowest at 16, but only because of the racial modifier. Dexterity, Wisdom and Charisma were 18 and Intelligence was the highest at 20.

It feels a bit odd using strength as my dump stat but there is absolutely no way I was going to do that with charisma and piss off everyone I meet. I have to live there after all. Friends would be nice to have.

The skills page let me know I was using third edition rules. Even better I had a lot more points than I anticipated. As in I already had points in almost every skill. And many of them were way higher than the skill cap.

I guess remembering my past life really makes a difference.

Interestingly I notice I don't have any points to spend. I wonder if this means skills are actually just a representation and not nearly as important. Something to consider later on when I have tie.

Appearance and voice where incredibly complicated so I just used the default settings. After all with a charisma of 18 it isn't whatever I end up with will be ugly.

I was a bit annoyed I wasn't allowed to pick my name. I guess I can always change it when I grow up. And that was the last screen. I can't wait to see where I spawn.

And then my world dissolved into red.


	2. Backstory, pt 1

Chapter 1

 _Thump-thump_.

It was oddly comforting floating in the womb, listening to gentle sound of my mother's heartbeat. A soothing cadence that constantly reassures me that everything will be alright.

 _Thump-thump_.

You would think I would go mad. Trapped, helpless and blind. I would have thought so before. Instead I drift. Half awake, almost dreaming. Listening.

 _Thump-thump_.

I couldn't see inside the womb. Sight, along with taste and smell were all cut off. The only thing I could do is listen. And so I did. I cannot begin to describe the sound. It wasn't dull or repetitive.

 _Thump-thump_.

The sound was thick and warm and I greedily embraced it. It was was rich and complex as life itself. It came to mean everything to me.

 _Thump-thump_.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Contrary to all of my expectations I wasn't born a bhaalspawn. Or at least I don't think so. I had no murderous urges nor did I dream of killing everything around me. I also wasn't born in Candlekeep and there was no one named Gorion anywhere nearby.

My second guess was just as off. I wasn't born on Evermeet. I also wasn't born in Evereska or any other elven city. I wasn't even born to elven parents!

Nope. I was born to a pair of humans. Well at least one human. And maybe one ritual?

To understand what that means I can just point out my last name. Harpell.

It's a name that strikes fear in all those who value rationality and common sense. It's a name just as synonymous with recklessness as it is magic. And it's now mine.

Of course it's not necessarily a bad thing. I seriously doubt there are many families that would have accepted the birth of a sun elf to a single human mother so easily. Aside from a few tests I was accepted without reservation.

Of course that might be the work of whatever deity that conspired to bring me here. If I had the slightest doubt it wasn't deliberate it was gone the very first week after I was born. Why else would my mother just happen to make up to the theme song to Baldur's Gate and use it as a lullaby. No, I definitely have a deity interested in me.

My first few months I seemed to spend either sleeping or laying inside ritual circles as everyone cast divination spells at me. My mother, Authrar, accepted me unconditionally and I admit that I easily found myself loving her back.

Not only did she accept me, but she was the medium through which I had first heard the song. Even after being born I just had to hug her to feel the faintest echo of it. I probably came across as extremely clingy when I was growing up.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Authrar beamed down at her baby. To her he was absolutely perfect. That he was an elf didn't bother her in the slightest. He was still her precious baby boy.

Growing up Pharaxes was such a cuddly baby. Any time he wasn't sleeping he wanted to be held. Sadly she couldn't hold him all the time. She still had to run her festhall. At least she didn't have to worry about repairs and replacing her lab.

The birth of a pure sun elf had captured the interest of her entire family. Everyone had been interested in trying to figure out how that happened. So she took the practical route.

They can run tests on him as long as she was there and he was home. Everyone pitched in. It wasn't long before she had a shiny new lab with a ritual room with the crib placed in the very center.

Pharaxes certainly was precocious. Earning his keep while only a few weeks old. Of course that wasn't the only area he was advanced.

No one was quite sure why, but Pharaxes developed incredibly rapidly. He spent less then a week crawling before he started walking and he was speaking before he was even a year old. He started reading not long afterwards.

The Harpells were an old family, existing for over three centuries. They were also a large family with several branches. And finally they were all close. All of that contributed to them having a fairly massive library. And since almost every Harpell was a mage, so was the majority of the library.

Authrar hadn't been too interested in reading before. She always preferred to be out doing things. Pharaxes changed that. For as long as she could remember he was fascinated with books. Whenever she was reading he would shift so he could stare at the turning pages.

Now she loved to read. She would place Pharaxes in her lap and read to him books on spell theory and the latest treatises. He was endlessly curious, always asking questions about things which she loved to answer.

When she was busy she found she could just prop open a book and Pharaxes would sit quietly and read it. It was an adorable sight, him next to a book almost as large he was, carefully turning pages with his chubby hands. She couldn't have been prouder of him. He was definitely going to be a great mage.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

In the end I loved growing up in Longsaddle. For a medieval society the Harpells had a positively enormous library. Even better most of it dealt with magic. And most importantly I was allowed to read them all.

Growing up in the middle of a family full of wild mages means personal eccentricities are usually ignored. For me it meant I didn't have to hide. I developed at a positively unnatural rate, at least if this was my first life. And everyone just accepted it.

I can see how they turn out so eccentrically. Given all the quirks and odd personalities I was subjected to while growing up it would be hard not too. Anything unusual was curiously poked, but then accepted.

That attitude would have made them fantastic scientists if they were logical. Or even just disciplined. Instead they were spontaneous and dramatic. Almost as mad as many considered them. Of course I fit right in with my abnormal intelligence.

And it was abnormal. I remember reading about learning rates versus age before. Babies were supposed to be mentally more powerful then the best supercomputer. Now that I experienced it I can confirm that as fact.

It was like the world moved in slow motion, giving me ample time to consider everything. It was an odd experience thinking so much faster. Everything was so easy to understand. I wasn't sure how much of it was due to being so young or from my my 20 intelligence.

Either way I took ruthless advantage of it. I was determined to be the youngest archmage in history. Not for the recognition but because I finally learned the date and I knew what was coming.

I was born in the year 1337. I don't remember most of the dates from the books I read but I remember one of the most important ones. 1358. The Time of Troubles or the Godswar. A time when magic fails and gods walk the world, fight each other and die.

I had about two decades to get ready. So I threw myself into training. I cast my first cantrip almost as soon as I could speak. A large part of that was due to my mother.

Some of my earliest memories are being cradled by her in one arm while she studied a spellbook in the other. Given how I was already learning a new language it wasn't any problem learning a second. Of course everyone that it hilarious that my my first halting sentences were in a mixture of common and draconic.

My family never really registered my age when they were considering what to teach me. As long as I could demonstrate sufficient knowledge no one cared what I wanted to learn. In fact they all delighted in teaching, spouting out entire lectures on their specialties at the drop of a hat.

So I started my lessons on the different fields of magic before I was two. Of course my mom had been teaching me long before that. Everyone seemed to enjoy teaching me. God bless my 18 charisma.

Not to say that I abused their trust. I paid rapt attention. After all I was learning magic. Actual reality bending magic. My enthusiasm was entirely real.

I might have progressed even faster but I was limited by my physical development. Thankfully my mother didn't mind reading to me or it would have been even worse. Even years later I still crave hearing the sound of her heartbeat.

At least I wasn't hampered by my need to sleep. In my past life I had hated sleeping. I always felt like I was losing precious chunks of time. Now with a deadline it would have been worse. Except I don't need to sleep.

Elves don't sleep. They enter a state called reverie which acts like meditation. And they only need four hours of it a day.

Of course my mom couldn't keep up that kind of schedule. Not to mention she has her own life. But that was what books were for. And later on there was always someone who was up for me to study with. Or at least borrow more books from.

I'm not sure if it from how seriously I studied, the blessing of my unknown deity or just the rules being that different from the game but I leveled up rapidly. No need to kill anything or barely survive some kind of challenge. Just steady work and a lots of practice.

Of course my practice wasn't normal. I used scenario's.

I would get Uncle Matherly to set up illusions of a fake dungeon. Iy would be filled with illusionary enemies and traps. There would also be random rules like being forced to ride a tenser's floating disc the entire time or rescuing hostages. I drew extensively from my video game and Dming experiences for ideas.

It actually became rather popular once word spread. Soon enough other wanted to try it out. So I told mu mom and she worked with uncle matherly to set up a full complex next to her festhall. It had multiple levels and movable walls to make it easier to set up.

Illusions allowed people eating inside the festhall to watch anyone using the Ivy Dungeon. It was very popular. Yep, I had essentially invented the sports bar.

Before when I mentioned leveling up I had meant that literally. Several spells actually are specifically level dependent and the exact level of an individual can even be researched. Let me tell you, the first time I managed to cast a flaming sphere and was congratulated on reaching third level I froze in shock.

Not because I thought he was reading my mind. Well not much. After all I did have the same thought. No it was because he actually said it at all. Out loud. In public. Like it's most normal thing in the world.

It was enough to make me wonder if the Harpells are actually insane are just way too intelligent.

Despite the existence of levels it seems that actual character classes don't exist. It's because they aren't nearly as neatly defined as they are in the game. Which makes sense. Life is infinitely more complex and messy then any game, no matter how elaborate. The same seemed to hold true for feats and skill points.

Which worked for me. It meant I started as a blood magus, something which I loved being. When I studied I could hear the slow steady beat of my heart. When I cast spells I felt it as energy surging through my veins. And as I became stronger I could literally feel the magic flowing in my blood.

It was the latter that drove home that point. Blood Component was a class ability for a blood magus and I already possessed it. Or maybe I should say I started with it. Not that it was much use yet. A child's body does not have much in the way of excess blood. Which just meant I needed another way of satisfying my obsession.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

For Harkle Harpell, his cousin Pharaxes was weird. Not because he was an elf. Everyone had their own theories on it and enjoyed debating them. He had even made a few of his own and been allowed to join in. No, he was weird because he never went outside!

All he did was spend all day reading! How can someone not like to play? To let the sun warm you and let the wind cool you. To listen to the river. That was just dumb.

Actually Pharaxes was really smart. Harkle knew because everyone said so. Well that and Pharaxes could cast spells already. He actually showed him sometimes. Which was nice. But he never wanted to try something new! Like throw random stuff in the cauldron to see if they can make something new. Or try saying a spell backwards.

Still Harkle kept talking to him because he could explain things really good. He'd bring up some questions and Pharaxes would start talking and everything just made sense. Sometimes when they talked long enough he'd start giving out really crazy ideas too.

Then he'd go back to reading and being boring. Still he did have some good ideas. As soon as he advanced enough he was going to pester his uncle Bidderdoo to teach him more about transmutation. Turning yourself into a giant shapeshifting monster and beating up all the bad guys sounded awesome!

Actually Pharaxes was his uncle too, but it felt it tended to confuse people when he called him that since they were the same age. He still wasn't sure why it confused most people. Maybe he should try to get his dad to marry Pharaxes' mom. Then he'd just be his brother.

Sometimes it seems like everyone except his family was hung up on weird rules only they understood. And then they wouldn't explain them!

Just like they got annoyed when they tried to say Bella wasn't his sister. She was too! They were family and she stayed over all the time since her dad traveled all the time. So they grew up together. So that makes her his sister.

Bella was really nice too! Sure she was clumsy, but she never cried when she tripped. It wasn't like she was a baby. She was just short. He really liked playing with her.

Which was good since most parents wouldn't his friends come over to his home. He wasn't sure and when he asked his dad just said people get scared of silly things. Like accidents. Which was dumb, since they were _accidents_. It's not like anyone was trying to be mean.

The way the made fun of his sister was way worse. So what if Bella's eyes were different colors. He thought they were neat. They even looked in different directions!

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

To distract myself from blood magic I threw myself into my studies. Eventually and hopefully soon I want to start crafting. My goal was to eventually study under Malchor Harpell and learn how to forge my own version of Staff of the Magi. I already know after the Godswar and Mystra's replacement no one is able to make any more.

Of course crafting costs money which is distinctively short of. I'm also much too young to hold any kind of job even if I am a halfway decent mage. And of course actually trying to be an adventurer is much too risky.

Especially since I don't have a real spellbook yet.

As part of their library the Harpells actually have a section devoted to actual spells. They have entire shelves full of them. And not just the standard spells. The Harpells loved to innovate. For every well known spell there must have been at least three variations. Several, such as magic missile, had as many as a dozen.

The problem is one of cost. Arcane ink is incredibly valuable. It takes roughly an ounce of ink to pen a first level spell. And the cost only goes up. An ounce of arcane ink is worth 100 gold. We get discounts from buying in bulk, but not that much. So all the books are actually donated grimoires. Which means they aren't organized in any fashion at all.

As part of my studies I started actually cataloging the spells. Actually organizing it would take tearing apart the books and hiring someone to rebind them. Making an index on the other hand was much easier. My progress was very slow since I was forced to use Read Magic on everything.

The few times I've found more then three copies of a spell Old Auglyth lets me carefully remove it to eventually make up my own started spellbook. Well, more like he removed the pages. Prodigy or not he doesn't really trust any kid around the spellbooks. I'm lucky he gives me access at all really.

Of course Auglyth isn't all bad. Sure he's all gruff and stiff, but that's probably more from being old then being mean. Although none of the other children agree with me.

One of the reasons he likely doesn't mind me is the fact I don't use candles or even lanterns around his precious books. Ever since I summoned an owl familiar my night vision has been amazing. I can easily read just from the light of a few stars.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

My owl familiar, which I couldn't resist naming Hedwig, was not my only magical companion. I also fashioned a homunculus. My mom was proud enough that I had successfully summoned a familiar that she paid for all the materials I needed. It was an odd looking thing, resembling a leathery winged cross between a cat and squirrel. My friends all loved him and after an accidental bite named him Sleepy.

If you could call them friends. Harkle and Bella were more like bratty younger siblings with me acting as the older responsible brother. They pestered me frequently about magic and anything else they were curious about.

Truthfully I didn't mind their presence. Their enthusiasm was refreshing and I've always liked little kids. If only they weren't so distracting. At least I had both a familiar and a homunculus to distract them in turn whenever I wanted to be left alone.

And I needed to be left alone more and more often. I had recently taken up the study of necromancy. For such an extensive library there is surprisingly little available on the subject. A bit disappointing.

Still, there is enough to get me started on the basics. Best of all thanks to being a blood magus I can ignore all the costly components normally required. Of course that doesn't get around the most common material needed, Bodies.

So I started my own farm.

It turns out the idea to magically shrink animals down hasn't popped up yet. I'm not sure when it does, but I do know it never succeeds. Most likely because the remaking of the Weave changes things enough that its no longer feasible. Well if things go right I'll have my own up long before that.

It actually doesn't take nearly as long to research the appropriate spell and then build a magical item to shrink animals down. Considering how easy it was I'm betting the Harpells had used something like a ward. It makes sense. A ward could affect everything that passes through it.

An item though would remain functional even after the Godswar. From what I remember items made before the Weave changed still used their original rules. You just couldn't make new ones.

So now I have a rod that shrinks animals with a touch. I wish I could have made it small enough for my homunculus to wield, but that just makes it way too expensive to be worth it.

I went with rabbits. They were fairly easy to get, bred fast and grew quickly. Best of all they ate grass. A single casting of Create Food and Water could feed hundreds of them while miniaturized. Of course I had no intention of being tied down so another item was needed.

I have never been more thankful that my mom runs the Ivy Festhall. Sure she was very generous since I had come up with the idea for the Ivy Dungeon, but I needed a fairly consistent income, especially to make magic items. So I cooked.

It wasn't until I had actually tried listing them that I realized just how many different recipes I knew. The Ivy Festhall originally had a few dozen different dishes. After I started cooking the menu quickly turned into a small book.

Even simple things like adding toppings to pancakes or preserves in porridge was wildly popular. We didn't add everything at once. No, it was limited to at most a single new item every season. While that may not seem that fast, considering the time I spent researching the new spells and then crafting new items, it was actually more then generous.

The first year after I convinced my mom to try it I introduced pancakes with toppings. Light fluffy delicious pancakes drowning in syrup or preserves. A few variations of porridge and my reputation was golden.

A large part of the spell creation process was the caster's own experience. I had an enormous advantage and made full use of it. Sure investment costs were pretty high, but mom was feeling generous given the popularity of my recipes. She provided all the funds I needed.

It's not like I needed that much. I mostly had her build me small bunker. Since she had never rebuilt her basement labs, instead just building them on top of her festhall, she placed my set up their. It was basically just a decent sized pair of rooms.

I paid a few of the town guards, called Longriders, to catch a half dozen rabbits and I was ready. For some reason rabbits weren't raised anywhere in town. Maybe it was because they were so plentiful?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Raising rabbits is incredibly easy. They breed quickly and only need shallow burrows. A few crates with a few inches of dirt in them was enough to house them. Thanks to my item feeding and watering them wasn't a problem and my homunculus cleaned up after them.

Provided with abundant food and without any predators their population exploded. Well, they did once I realized that pregnancy causes issues. Thankfully it wasn't too complicated to modify the spell, even if I did have to make a new item. So now the rod doesn't have to actually the animal. Passing through their space was enough to count and it affected all the animals in the area.

Finally I could experiment with undead rabbits! Yeah, that didn't happen. Have you ever smelled a rotting corpse? Well that's what a zombie is.

So no zombies. Seems simple. Nope. Making a skeleton causes the flesh to fall off and liquefy into this putrid goo. Intellectually it was fascinating to consider the effects of negative energy. My first impression though was to gag and run away.

Cleaning out an underground area with no windows was horrible. Hell necromancy may have a bad reputation just because everyone who practices it doesn't have a sense of smell and reeks.

So more research was needed. And since I was only going to use the bones I need to do something about the rest of the rabbit. Well waste not, want not. So a spell to skin and tan the hide, then a spell to clean the rabbit and finally a spell to turn to meat into pemmican.

Sure pemmican wasn't high in demand but at least it could be stored. I'll eventually find a use for it. The hides at least provided me with some income.

Despite my best efforts processing all the rabbits I used in my experiments still fouled the air. It was worries over getting sick that caused me to spend a hefty chunk of money on a few intact shelves of ripplebark.

The fungus is incredibly hardy and grows on almost anything. It's also highly nutritious and cleans the air. It's exactly what I needed for my lab. Thematically it even fits since the fungus resembles rotting flesh, thankfully without the smell.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Sometimes I look at all the work I've sunk into just getting started on my experiments and I wonder if it's worth it. Then I cast a spell and feel the familiar rush of energy. And I have my answer.

Necromancy was by far the closest in feel to blood magic. Just casting Larloch's Minor Drain was enough to ease the ache inside me. Death Knell in particular was plain addictive.

Conversely creating an undead numbed my craving. It didn't remove it, but it was like morphine. You could feel it but it didn't bother you or even factor into any decisions you made. The numbness lasted for hours and ever since I got my own bedroom I started animating a rabbit just before going to sleep.

Since I was concentrating on rabbits I felt like I had to chance to perfect it. I mixed and matched bones, tried positioning the bones or casting while touching different places on the skeleton. I even tried preparing the bones in various ways to see what difference it made. And every time I focused on my sense of energy and how it flowed out.

Without real words to describe it, it was as much art as science. As I had thought it took hundreds of tests to make even the slightest replicatable difference.

I had long since come up with a measurement for health. My homunculus under the effects of a Ray of Enfeeblement dealt only a single point of damage. Then it would hack the animated skeleton apart.

It was so useful having Blood Component. It let me roughly quantify a single point of damage. Larger amounts of damage and relative heath for creatures didn't fit in quite so neatly. I would never be to the point where everything boiled down to a numbers game, but I was determined to get as close as possible.

Health wasn't the only improvement I worked on. Strength was another ability that I could specifically gauge. There were other areas I worked on as well. Anything that I could specifically measure and test I at least attempted.

In this I had a distinct advantage over any other budding necromancer. I had the greatest gift of all. I had foreknowledge of what specifically was possible or at least likely to work. Unfortunately by this point it has been years since I cracked open a DnD manual and I only remember a few of the corpsecrafter feat tree.

What I do remember is very helpful. I didn't endlessly strive to improve my undead. I set as specific benchmarks as I could. I wanted to balance what was feasible, possible and attainable. Feats like skills were a combination of knowledge and practice. I didn't want to slave away to attain ridiculous goals. I already had one obsession, I didn't need more.

Corpsecrafter itself I figure I've mastered. A boost to strength and hp. I don't remember the others but I also managed to increase the speed of my skeletons as well as make them more flexible and agile. I finally managed to slightly toughen the bones themselves so that it takes more force to damage them.

Of course all these insights were only usable to myself. And I didn't want that. I wanted to make sure even if I died that my family benefited. It felt right. After all they did shelter and provide for me. They also accepted me completely. So I would leave them a legacy beyond bread and circuses.

It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done, but I succeeded. I created a ritual to prepare a skeleton and guide it's animation process to take advantage of my insights.

Of course it's not complete. It works perfectly with rabbit skeletons. Other skeletons only receive a lesser boost and zombies aren't improved at all. Still, it's a good start even if not one that I will finish.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Given how much work is involved in improving my undead I can see why feats were given so rarely. They really are an accumulation of an enormous amount of effort. And I just can't afford to spend that much time on it.

My solution to this is Geth. He's a quiet lad a few years older than me that my family took in. His family died when their caravan was attacked. He's also intelligent and studious if the time he spends reading is any indication.

My family is not a charity despite being nice. Sure they took him in, but without anywhere to go he'll be stuck here as just another servant. They even changed his last name to Ivy when they took him in. Without anyone to support him he's pretty much trapped. Especially since he has a sister to take care of. At best he'll be a scribe.

Which is a waste. I've watched all the Ivy children and he's by far the best. When doing his chores he's methodical and thorough. He also is efficient and curious. And like all children fascinated with magic.

I test him by having him work at the butchers for a few months and he is thankfully not squeamish. So I take him on. I think technically he's considered my valet or scribe. What I had him doing for me though was study magic and specifically necromancy.

I cheated with him. While I could just order him to study necromancy I wanted him to really try. So I charmed him. Befriend, Charm, Suggestion, I used ever enchantment I could to mold his personality.

It worked perfectly. No one knew him enough to see how quickly he was changing besides his sister and I just charmed her as well. Besides it wasn't like I wasn't paying him. My allowance was easily enough to afford a servant.

He didn't have my advantages so progress was much slower. I had to 'borrow' the Ivy Dungeon several times to give him enough experience to progress his studies. Even then he still isn't nearly as powerful as I am.

Sometime in the future I'm going to have to test why killing things levels you up. Is it the adrenaline? Some kind of subtle vampiric effect? That'll have to wait for the future.

My immediate problem was Geth's sister. She wasn't bright enough to be trained as another mage. My first impulse was to kill her but that would cause problems. I couldn't afford any suspicions. Besides that the idea felt a bit wrong since Geth worked for me.

It wasn't until I saw her dancing that I realized I knew exactly what to do. Kethra had to have a fairly high dexterity. The sheer grace, now that I was paying attention, in her movements made that clear.

So I had her train to be a rogue. Or a thief since it was still before the Time of Troubles and third edition.

It wasn't too hard. Kethra was often bored since I had her brother studying to often. Persuading her to enjoy sneaking around and pranking people didn't take more than an a few comments and a bribe of candy. To get her to pursue throwing weapons with the same zeal took a decent amount of magic.

I even paid a few Longriders to teach her how to sneak, spot and set traps and throw darts which kept her busy. Although I did see her every day. Since hiring eth they had moved into a guest room at the festhall and we often ate together.

Despite everything Kethra is cheerful, bubbly and exhausting to deal with. Even her stint at the butcher's didn't depress her.

She's the direct opposite of her brother. I'm not certain, but I suspect my spells have squashed the last bits of personality Geth had left. He's practically a robot by this point.

Kethra of course doesn't hold it against him. No she started bugging me since it was so hard to get a response from him. And possibly out of guilt I just put up with it. Of course it's hard not to like her.

It seems without really trying I acquired another little sister. At least all of my semi-siblings get along. Most of the time one of them wants to play games I can just direct them to each other.

It was all worth it though. Already my future party was shaping up pretty well. A rogue (Kethra), a pair of mages (Harkle, Geth and I) and undead for meat shields courtesy of Geth. We only lacked a healer and items will hopefully be able to cover that.

I planned to go adventuring eventually. There was just too many things out there I wanted. I probably forgot way too many but the few I still remembered were still more then enough justification.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Wizard 3 / Blood Magus 3

Harkle Harpell – Transmuter 3

Geth Ivy – Necromancer 3

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2


	3. Backstory, pt 2

Chapter 2

Geth Ivy slowly stretched and allowed himself a small grin in satisfaction. He'd been working hard ever since he'd accepted Pharaxes' offer and he had finally succeeded in casting animate dead.

It was an interesting sensation to feel the undead under his control. He just knew, just like the sky was blue, that he could give the rabbit skeleton commands. He count feel a tenuous connect to it. It wasn't strong enough to fully monitor the undead through it, but it did uniquely identify the skeleton in his mind.

He could see how the link may be distracting and wondered how Pharaxes dealt with it. Or was it not even an issue for him? Geth had been training under him for years now and it still impressed him how powerful his master was despite being so young.

He still remembered the day Pharaxes had made his offer. He was no knight, but he had willingly swore his allegiance. One of the few impulsive emotional decisions he'd ever made. He hadn't regretted it though.

Pharaxes was hailed as a prodigy and many considered him the next Elminster. The fact that he effectively took an apprentice when he was seven just added to his reputation. Of course part of it was that he was a Harpell.

Everyone knew the crazy family of mages. They had founded Longsaddle in the middle of nowhere. Just setting up and killing everything around them. They were one of the main reasons that people lived here at all. And he was being taught by one.

When the orc raiding party had killed his parents he had lost almost everything. He was too young to do much work and everything he owned had burned with his parents wagon. Only his sister was left and he had to support her.

He made the best of it. He worked hard, doing whatever he was assigned. He didn't complain, it could have been much worse. He hoped to someday be a scribe or at best a manager. He had come a long way since then.

He looked around himself and as always felt a sense of awe. The room he was studying in was far different from the basement he had started his training in. What had been a pair of rooms was now an entire underground complex. And he even had an entire suite.

Kethra had one as well even if she rarely used it. She much preferred her room in the Ivy Festhall. Thinking of her reminded him that dinner would be soon.

He carefully put away all of tools and put away his spellbook. She liked to carry around food. He didn't want to chance it getting stained. Sometimes he wondered if they really were related.

His hand reached out to caressed the spines of the books as he walked by the shelf. There were several books there covering anatomy, physics and spell theory. They were his most prized possessions.

He had been studying the books for years now and knew them all by heart. They were each filled with personal notes, most recording comments made by his master.

The information contained was almost priceless. He considered them his most prized possession. His master knew so very much. It was as if he possessed divine insight into the workings of reality.

Thinking about it he decided to ignore dinner. Kethra would probably end up bringing down something eventually. A little hunger was a small price to pay to finally open the one book he had been forced to wait on read.

Called the Libris Mortis it was written by his master Pharaxes. It was also only half full. He had been told once he progressed enough the book would be his and it was up to him to finish it. It was the reason for which he had been trained. Proof he was worth his master's trust.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Kethra Ivy threw herself into her chair. While she still flashed a quick grin at her unofficially adopted mom and brother, she was frustrated by her actual brother. Geth had always been quiet and the loss of their parents had made it worse.

The real problem was the fact that ever since he started studying magic he became obsessed. He was always working to improve the skeletons he made. Truthfully she still thought they were kind of creepy.

Sure they made great meat shields, but still it just seemed kind of wrong. At least he didn't use zombies. She had seen a few and more importantly smelled a few and there was no way she was going to work with them. The smell had taken days to wash out of her hair!

She knew he intended to follow Pharaxes in adventuring eventually and she was determined to not be left behind. Sadly she was no mage and praying was just boring. It was only when a few Longriders had offered to train her a bit that she found her place.

She was really sneaky. Something that had been only improved by her pranking. So she was going to be a scout. Ambushing enemies was the way to go. Fighting up front was just dumb. What was the point? Much easier to shoot them in the back.

Or rather throw darts into their back. For some reason ever since she had tried them she had fallen in love with throwing darts. They just felt right. She had quickly gotten the hang of using them and the tips a few Longriders had given her had only helped.

She had thrown herself into her own training. Pharaxes was always good at giving suggestions on how to improve. Some were weird, like writing letters with her off hand, and only made sense later. Throwing with both hands was so much faster.

He also snuck her into the Ivy Dungeon at night sometimes to practice. He had even paid for some of the Longriders to teach her other times. He was by far the best big brother ever.

Kethra huffed when that though reminded her of her actual big brother. The one down in his lab reading or taking notes. Again. She had spied on him a whole afternoon once and that was all he did! It was so boring!

What he needed was someone to cheer him up. Well her sister wasn't going to let him down!

Kethra quickly grabbed a pizza and headed down into The Lair. It didn't actually have a name, but she started calling it that when it became more than one level. A basement was not the same size as Ivy Mansion!

It also wasn't full of monsters that would try to kill everyone if they got out! The rabbits were bad enough. Sure they weren't dangerous, but it was creepy killing so many cute fuzzy critters.

Then Pharaxes had moved on. He had rapidly expanded and started setting up more rooms for different animals. Snapping turtles, Snakes. She still remembers when he posted that bounty for wolf cubs.

Then as if what he had wasn't bad enough he started growing animals. Which seemed silly until he did it to bugs. Suddenly there were giant spiders and other creepy crawlys. Sure she liked having honey always at the table, but thought of the hive of gigantic bees beneath her still made her nervous.

She doesn't care how many vermin wards he set. It was still crazy. After all The Lair was in the middle of the town!

It seems despite being a genius Pharaxes was very much a Harpell. Which means both of her brothers were idiots. She just hoped she could keep them out of too much trouble.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Fourth level spells gave me access to a group of spells that helped me out immensely. Memory spells.

Using them I dove into my memories to review everything I knew about the game. While it doesn't work on memories from my past life, I had frantically reviewed as much as I could while an infant. Sure I forgot most of it, but those memories at least I could retrieve.

So I ended up working on recreating several items I recalled and considered the most useful. Well, I had my mom make for me. I did buy a few scrolls but I was just way too low level to do everything on my own. Kind of makes me wish I was raised after the Time of Troubles. Of course everything gets a lot more expensive then, so many it's just as well.

For Geth I used the Wonderous Hat from the DnD Animated Series. It's ability to provide components meant he'll be able to experiment to his hearts content. Anything up to 1000 gold could be temporarily conjured.

I tweaked it so that it now just acted as a focus. It still had the same magical limitations, but it was infinitely more practical now. I considered the final product simple and elegant. Apparently my mom thought it was boring.

Using my notes on the original form she quickly recreated the hat. And of course it was instantly popular with my family. I'm not even sure if I should be grateful or not she gave my most of the credit.

Speaking of which, my enchantments might be too much for Geth. Sure he spends most of his time underground, but he's not just pale. He's losing weight and although insists he's fine looks a bit sick.

Besides, it's not like I really needed them now. His initial behavior patterns are well set and unlikely to shift much now. And it's not like I can't reapply them or even just straight out manipulate him into doing what I want.

When I had raised my charisma to 18 I figured it'd make me more attractive and might factor into powers. I did not expect it to basically rewire my mind. Social ques I never would have picked up on before now seem blatant. It's just so easy now to see how and why people react.

I've always been very logical. Now I can see the rules behind social reactions. In the end I decide to keep them. I'll ween them off the enchantments before actually going adventuring, but I don't spend enough time with them to manipulate them reliably.

For Kethra I used the Energy Longbow. Once again I stripped it down to the single ability I considered worthwhile., the ability to generate force arrows. A slight adjustment and they easily became darts. It was set up as a forearm sheath to allow quick access.

I also gave her a +1 returning dart. It wasn't much but at least she has a weapon for each arm now. Besides I was getting tired of pestering my mom to help me enchant items.

Surprisingly Kethra has been progressing at least as fast as Geth. Maybe even faster since she keeps sneaking into the Ivy Dungeon at night. Of course part of that is Geth is working on the making all the rituals I asked for. Still at this rate she'll catch up with me.

I still desperately needed funds though. I didn't feel right relying on the generosity of my family and mom in particular. Which is why I started working with enlarged insects.

Take a normal spider and enlarge him and he'll spin an appropriate sized web. Cancel the spell and the web is free to be harvested. It's an odd loophole in the law of conservation of matter. As long as I feed the spiders when they're shrunk down it's easy. Crickets would have long since overrun my base if I didn't use vermin wards.

A similar approach works for bees. Keep them enlarged except when feeding and harvesting the hive. Of course I ended up having to create another spell just to feed them since they didn't eat mushrooms or meat. After that huge amounts of honey, wax and poison were quickly being generated.

Oddly , even though it kills the bee, the stinger didn't shrink back down after it has been stabbed into a target. It shrinks as soon as it stops generating venom though. Like the silk and honey the poison isn't affected.

It nice to see that particular characteristic working in my favor for once. I have many painfully memories of plucking embedded stingers out of myself. At least my experiences are now useful.

Gathering the materials is definitely not safe. I have never been more thankful to have studied necromancy. Using bear skeletons it's much easier to fend off the attacks from the enlarged insects. And of course I always make sure to have a vermin ward prepared for emergencies.

Even better it was undead that provided another solution as well. It's even more distracting then animating undead, but I create a second homunculus.

It's a odd feeling to be aware of three different points of view. I can only concentrate on one at a time though. I then borrow one of the many Rods of Wonder that seem to just be piled in the armory. I have no idea why there are so many. I know many of us are wild mages, but that was just ridiculous.

I then took my new homunculus to a set of large reinforced rooms in my base. My plan was simple. Have the rod continuously be used. A number of it's effects generate actual items so just gather those up.

Leaves, grass, butterflies and water could all just be recycled into my farms. The last item was the most important one. Gems. The rod actually creates gemstones. Sure they're tiny and flawed. But the fact that they're real means I can just use them in bulk.

And of course a variation of stoneshape means they don't stay small or flawed. The most expensive material when crafting was often gemstones. It wasn't possible for anyone who doesn't have their own homemade microscope and understanding of crystals.

I used to have a friend who was a geologist. He'd ramble for hours about mineral formations. I never thought I'd be grateful for those lectures.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Authrar Harpell was the proudest mother in Faerun. Her baby boy was continuously proving himself special. She knows other mothers call their children special, but Pharaxes really was special.

First with how quickly he learned. Pharaxes mastered magic incredibly easily. He leveled up fast enough she wondered if he would end up with more levels then years. And how he used magic was impressive. The Ivy Dungeon alone was a true wonder.

The new meals he had provided was another achievement. She still has no idea how he comes up with the dishes but they are proving wildly popular. On his advice she had opened a second festhall and divided the menu between them. The Berry Bowl was set up across town and served pancakes, porridge toppings and other fruit recipes.

It cost a bit to set up, but was paying off. She was already considering creating a third festhall, this one based on pizza and other cheese dishes. Before she does though she'd need to talk to Malchor again. He had already provided teleportation circles between her two festhalls in exchange for being able to eat there for free.

She admits that she didn't like her baby boy studying something as depressing as necromancy. All that black! He was already serious enough. And don't even get her started on the smell!

At least he fixed that issue. Skeletons weren't so bad besides how unnatural they look. And he managed to get rid of the stench in his basement too. She has no idea how moss and mushrooms fixed the smell, but it clearly worked.

Speaking of working, the two poor little orphans seemed to be working out well. The older brother was just as studious and serious as her son. They were always playing in the basement, probably running some super secret club. Such silly boys.

She had worried about Kethra at first but she seemed to have found her place. She was also getting really good at pranking people. Everyone knew it was her, but most of the time no one could prove it. It least they were actually funny and she knew better then to mess with anyone's lab.

She had seen Kethra hanging out with various Longriders frequently. They seemed to have informally adopted her and were always giving her little tips. She wonders if Kethra likes her son or even realizes he likes her. After all why else would he have asked her to make her that energy dart sheath?

He was so earnest and nervous too! It was really adorable. Nut really he shouldn't have been nervous. She was delighted to enchant a few items for friends. Anything to make them more likely to survive and come back to her.

Pharaxes was always so reckless. Even as a baby he studied everything he could. Honestly binding a familiar and then creating homunculus, just how reckless can you be? Hopefully his friends will be able to protect him.

The other two Harpell children he sometimes hangs around with are very busy with their own studies. It seems Pharaxes is a good influence and inspired them. They come over often enough she has started to think of them just as much her own as the other two.

Dinner was rarely quiet. With all five children there seemed to always be at least one of them boasting about what they had done that day or asking her son questions. It sometimes gave her the impression of a patient tutor. Or maybe a father.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Ninth level changed everything for me. It finally opened up construction spells for me. A permanent version of Augment Object, Wall of Stone and Stoneshape. Sure there were others later on, but there were enough to start expanding my base.

The Harpells, having lived in one place for centuries, had done their share of magical construction. As such they had just even more variations of the construction spells then normal. I used them all.

With enough room I start breeding everything. Chickens, sheep, turtles. I set up rooms for every animal I could get my hands on. Several I had to hire Longriders to capture for me.

I didn't even need to craft items to feed them. I had a badger skeleton tunnel all the way to the river and fashioned a crude stone pipe. With running water I could now grow moss, reeds and ferns. Combined with ripplebark it easily provided enough fodder. I even grew large patches of glowing moss and mushrooms to light up my dungeon. I was almost completely self sufficient now!

My efforts on that front are helped along by a nifty feature of the haste spell. Being under it's influence ages you a year. It doesn't take off a year of your life, but means you count as older. The best part is there isn't any chance of you dying from it.

I spam Haste on most of my creatures and get some interesting results. First if they're too young they do die. So I can only use it to mature them, not grow up in the first place. Second they don't grow automatically. After the spell is over they get ravenous and change over the next 24 hours. Not enough food stunts them. It's a good things they're so small.

I also excavated quite a few storerooms. Between all the creatures I was soon going to have an abundance of resources. Sure I can use some, but if I'm not careful it'll become obvious just how much I have and then I'll be a target. So the bulk of it is going into storage.

Still I am going to start trading at least some of it. I really want to commission some rods for the spells I keep having to have my mom cast for me. Which is just embarrassing. Even if she doesn't mind I hate being so dependent.

I still really needed a source of funds so I enlisted Regweld. He was more than willing to help me with my new idea. As I hoped he took over the project completely. I doubt I'll have to get involved until he has several finished creatures to sell. It really seems like most of my family doesn't pay any attention to our finances.

My idea was simple. I wanted him to breed war hounds. Not too many, just a small kennel. However if he improved them far beyond any current guard animals it'd prove very lucrative. Especially if we only sold a few of them a year. Besides, the bulk of them should be used to protecting Longsaddle.

I was very grateful for all the years I was a Dungeon Master. Thanks to that I knew exactly what templates I wanted him to work towards. Dungeonbred, Guardian Beast and Warbeast. Combining them all should yield fairly spectacular results.

I carefully steered him away from most of his more exotic ideas. I needed them to still be classified as animals or my shrinking spell wouldn't work on them. Although his idea for a dog with more then one head wasn't bad.

A bit more talking and he was not going to work on two new creatures. The second dog was going to drop Dungeonbred for Chameleon and Multiheaded. With three heads of course, I insisted. I also insisted calling the breeds Seeing Eye Dog and Cerberus.

Even better the process for adding those templates to a creature doesn't change much. Once he works out the process it'll be fairly easy to incorporate it into some of my future projects. Given what was available I was already planning on creating deinonychus warbeasts with improved natural weapons.

The fast dinosaurs aren't too common, but after the guard dogs succeed I'll have enough family pull to send out a few expeditions. Even better they should work as mounts as well.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Bella was the baby of the Harpells. She knew it too. Everyone called her cute and adorable and picked her up when she asked. She had a little trouble seeing, but everyone liked her eyes. So she liked them too.

That changed the first time she left the mansion. The children she met were not nice. They were mean and made fun of her. They made fun of how clumsy she was. Well, she couldn't help it. It was hard to tell how far away something was.

Most of all they made fun of her eyes. How they were different colors. How one was dull and cloudy. How the looked in different directions.

She liked her cousins. Harkle would always defend her or play with her. Now he was always studying or practicing magic. He kept talking about going off on adventures. He didn't notice when she became quieter. Or that she took to wearing her hair over her face.

Pharaxes noticed. He seemed to always know everything. He didn't laugh at her. He told her how her eyes were what made her clumsy. The explanation confused her, but the eye patch did help.

When she realized all of her friends would eventually go off adventuring and leave her behind she was terrified. She threw herself into her studies. She tried, but she just didn't get it like her cousins did.

As always Pharaxes came up with a solution. Magic Missile was a very simple spell. For a first level spell it was pretty powerful too. And it didn't care how clumsy she was.

She listened, enthralled as he explained how amazing could become with a little work. She didn't know how he knew, but she believed him. She tried harder than ever.

One of the proudest moments of her life was when she finally changed the spell to shoot tiny see through unicorns. She didn't care what anyone said. She thought it was pretty. Her shield spell ended up looking like a pegasus wrapping her in its wings.

With advice from Pharaxes she developed two new variants of magic missile. The first was missile storm and made twice as many missiles. They were much weaker, but let her target lots of things at once. The second was the opposite. Force lance was just made one big missile, but it could fly much farther. The part she liked best was that it looked like a big unicorn horn.

It was also a second level spell since Pharaxes kept saying she shouldn't waste higher level slots with weaker spells. Seeing his face when she showed him was hilarious. She was going to make a version for every level!

The best part was that she managed to figure out how to cast magic missile without doing anything. She can now actually just glare people to death!

She didn't just practice with magic missile. She made a weaker version of the shield spell that protected her from every side and even came up with one of mage armor that worked with normal mage armor. Sure, it felt weird, like she had feathers brushing over her skin, but it worked. Even Pharaxes was impressed.

She agreed with Kethra that his basement was kind of creepy. It did have one thing that meant she kept visiting. The floor had lines on it that let her tell how close things were. Down there she wasn't clumsy. Well unless she tried to grab something. But not bumping into walls was great!

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

It was becoming increasingly clear to me that I was going to need more help. The two Ivy siblings were solidly on my side, but I needed more if I was going to venture into most of the places I wanted. Bella would probably join me. Before he died her father had filled her head with stories of his adventures.

It was Harkle that would be the problem. He still had parents and several friends. Worse his study of wild magic kept breaking my enchantments. Which wouldn't be so bad except he had started taking lessons from Feldraman add like his son Adanac, he was very logical. He was very likely to notice if I kept enchanting Harkle.

He still was studying transmutation but he was prone to pursuing increasingly long tangents. Which of course was being encouraged by his father, Gathgaerig. It was clear Harkle wasn't going to be the tank I had wanted.

Which left a massive hole in my line up. Three mages and a rogue was not a good set up. There weren't any more promising orphans and I didn't want to rely just on undead. It was an attack on one of the ranches that provided my solution.

The entire place had been burned down and the family all killed and likely eaten. From the talk gnolls were viewed about as favorably as plague or locust. Which meant no one was likely to care if I experimented on them.

I went to the library and the more I read the better they sounded. Gnolls bred and matured incredibly quickly. They had a litter every year if there was enough food and matured in only a handful of years. They were also naturally much stronger and tougher then humans.

Behavior wise they were pretty feral and often had canines running with them. They seemed to get along fine with them and some reports stated they could practically talk to each other. They were also cowards, attempting to surrender or escape if it looked like they would lose.

They were perfect.

I approached uncle Matherly with my idea. Between him and my mom my project was quickly approved. It helped that it was going to be set up in one of the ranches that had been burned down. No doubt one of the other ranchers would have tried to claim it eventually, but with the gnolls still at large no one was willing to dispute my claim.

Most of it was just letting everyone know that I was setting up a compound there and not bother it. Sure some people grumbled, but no one else was willing to actually try and clear out the gnolls. Of course that was the entire reason I wanted the land.

The Den as I called it was basically a decent side farm with high double walls. The large gap between the walls was filled with skeletons. There was only a single entrance and it was narrow and exposed. It was easy enough since I built most of it with spells.

Hiring enough Longriders to comb the area for gnolls was even easier. When I asked about that my mom gave me a wink before asking to leave that up to her. One offer of for three free meals at any of her festhalls and suddenly there was no shortage of volunteers.

She grinned at my look of shock. I've obviously underestimated just how popular her festhalls are. And possible how expensive too. If anything my mom grinned even wider as she calmly explained how all three of her festhalls were now basically the equivalent to 5-star restaurants.

Suddenly I don't feel nearly as guilty about asking her for help. It also gives me ideas. So far I've only really introduced american foods. Sure I made pizza, but not ravioli, lasagna, or even spaghetti. One of the few passions from my previous life was trying new dishes. It seems I really did have the perfect mom.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The expedition included just about every spare Longrider, which meant I had over fifty bodyguards when we rode out. At my side Bella, Kethra and Harkle were chatting away, excited to be included. Geth rode behind, quietly watching.

Bits of fur had been scavenged from the burned home and I between the Seeing Eye dogs and trackers we easily tracked down the gnolls.

There wasn't really a battle. The gnolls tried to run and when they couldn't lose us tried an ambush. They may be at home in the wood, but without magic they couldn't block Locate Creature. It's hard to sneak up on someone who always knows where you are.

All four of us had prepared plenty of spells of Ray of Enfeeblement. The first rush was met with a volley of spells that caused most of them to collapse under the weight of their own armor. Weighted nets and lassos took care of the rest.

There were more then we expected though. Two other groups both charged, seeking to flank us. As much as I regretted the loss, I fireballed one and had Harkle fireball the other.

The rest broke after that and tried to retreat. I was definitely not going to allow that and we gave chase. Interestingly, they actually surrendered when they couldn't lose us.

Securing them all was a pretty nerve wracking affair. Even with their losses we didn't have enough chains for them all. I made sure to have their shaman killed along with his apprentice. I wasn't taking any chances with this many captives. If they weren't such cowards things could have gone really bad.

Things stayed tense until they were all safely trapped in my compound. Even the most pessimistic didn't think they posed a threat once they saw my defenses. Including the pups I now had almost seventy gnolls, way more then I actually needed. Still, one can never have too many bodies.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Wizard 5 / Blood Magus 5

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 2 / Force Missile Mage 3

Geth Ivy – Necromancer 1 / Master Specialist 2 / Pale Master 2

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 1 / Master Thrower 2


	4. Backstory, pt 3

Chapter 3

It was ironic that one of my least favorite schools of magic when I played DnD was now my most frequently used. Enchantments had usually been ignored for more directly combat oriented schools. Now that I was actually living in the setting I found that more subtle magic is incredibly important.

Since being reborn though I had been using Charm, Suggestion and a host of other spells nearly daily. It was one of the main reason I had recruited Geth. I just couldn't spare the slots to really experiment with necromancy the way I wanted.

It came in incredibly handy after the gnoll hunt.

As expected their first taste of combat, despite the subtle conditioning I had used, still shocked them deeply. After all they were still just kids. I had prepared though and several Suggestions later they were all feeling much better.

Once back at the compound I spent the next week weaving a complex net of curses, charms and compulsions on each gnoll. Once they were ready I used a new spell on each of them. A new variant of Shrink Animal, it only worked on gnolls and then only if they were willing or helpless.

Soon enough I had my own pack of gnolls, each the size of a cat. I had partitioned off my compound until I was sure it was clear of any predators that could pose a danger to my tiny future minions.

I immediately had the now docile gnolls start crossbreeding. What I really wanted was flinds, but they were much rarer so I just had to make my own. With a little alchemical help from Regweld's I ensured all the pups would also be flinds.

Even better he managed to speed up their growth. It should be safe to use haste on them as young as one provided they have access to enough food. Their lifespan was shortened to only twenty years, but it was worth it. Besides, I wasn't planning on any of them living that long.

I collared and tagged each of them and set up an actual record for breeding results. No point letting them become inbred. I was planning on greatly expanding their numbers. Seventy was not nearly enough for my plans.

The male adult gnolls I actually all just killed. Using their bodies, a Wall of Iron and Fabricate I put together a few Necrosis Carnexes and dumped them into my 'moat'. A few healers would make anything more dangerous and they can wait there until I need them.

I planned to use the rest to make myself some archers but in the end couldn't resist making a Blood Hulk. It was just so much fun playing with the blood! I only just resisted the urge to try and make a Bloodfire Ooze just for the thrill of it.

Actually, this gives me an idea. Carefully I concentrate on one of the bodies and infuse it with twice the normal amount of energy. I focus on both the blood and skeleton and wait.

When a skeleton steps out of the decomposing flesh that is coated in layer of dried blood I start laughing. Looks like there is at least some crossover with Pathfinder. Which means Necrocraft is possible. I've always wanted to ride in an undead carriage.

I never did stop playing with necromancy. Sure I turned over the ritual enhancement project to Geth, but that just left me free to work on other things. For instance it was an application of life drain that saves several of the Longriders from wounds they had taken.

I had also long since learned how to siphon life force from the animals I was using. Ironic that despite how famous I was for my cooking I probably ate the least due to my use of Slow Consumption

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Geth Ivy watched as Pharaxes demonstrated yet again just how far beyond him his master stood. He had been working on the spell Animate Dead for over a year now. He had cast it literally thousands of times, always testing just what was possible. And never would he have suspected it capable of this.

Before him crawled a twisted form Pharaxes called a Necrosis Carnex. Besides it stood a bloated figure called a Blood Hulk. An animated spider the size of a small dog and a number of skeletons sheathed in a variety of substances clustered around an actual undead chariot. And all of them made with the same spell he had been convinced he had mastered.

It's a good thing I'm not prone to depression he mused. This would likely have been more than enough to justify it. Instead he carefully observed everything in order to later add it to the Libris Mortis.

Later he begin the process of moving over his belongings to The Den. While he did still have his current project, he only had so many spell slots to devote to it. He could spare a few minutes throughout the day to check on the gnolls and ensure everything was running smoothly.

Over the following weeks he watched as Harghondrahn Harpell arrived. He usually played at the Fuzzy Quarterstaff, the largest inn in Longsaddle. It seems he also liked working with animals. And was proficient with a variety of weapons. A man of many talents. Pharaxes did well in hiring him.

Harghon as he preferred to be called, trained the gnolls extensively. He taught the young gnolls how to wield several weapons as well as drilled them in squad tactics. After the first month he started bringing two teenagers with him that he recognized.

Huron was a kennel boy that Pharaxes had brought to the base one day. He didn't hang around much. Mostly he had him either train at the archery range or practice shooting down skeletons. Geth didn't mind, it was an efficient means of disposing of the skeletons once he no longer needed them.

Geth remembered occasionally also seeing Huron training with a few of the Longriders with a few weapons. He was adequate with a bow, but much worse with just about anything else. His only talent seemed to be working with animals. Even so he wasn't sure where he had gotten ahold of two Seeing Eye dog pups.

It seems his master didn't want to waste his investment. It was an elegant solution. Huron wasn't good enough to fight along side them, but he might be able to train the gnolls well enough to do so.

If Huron was there to train the gnolls in archery Geth would bet Usk was there to train with a blade. Usk was an interesting choice. Usk had been a notorious bully and braggart. He had also wielded a sword since he was rumored to possess little talent with magic.

The last time he had seen him Usk had attempted to push his master around. He shivered as he recalled that encounter.

Usk had grabbed his master and loudly demanded something from his. He had his hand on the pommel of his sword and was glaring into his face. Pharaxes had reached out gently and touched the hand holding his shoulder.

The next instant Usk was on the ground screaming . Blood poured out from his body from everywhere. Even his skin was seeping blood. He didn't die, but it took three days for him to wake up.

Watching him now Geth realized that Usk seemed to have matured. He didn't push the pups around. He was patient with them and was taking the time to train them properly. Pharaxes really can work miracles.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

For me Usk had been a fluke. You ever have that one relative with a massive chip on his shoulder? That was Usk in a nutshell.

He had very little talent in magic so he compensated by trying to tell everyone who magic was for weaklings. He trained with the Longriders occasionally, but his attitude got him kicked out.

He had approached me years ago. I guess my reputation as a prodigy was just too much for him.

I had been having a bad day, worrying about balancing my meager budged and just impatient in general. I really didn't like being so small compared to well, everything. And then this teenager swaggers up and tried to push me around.

I've always hated bullies. I was kicked out of two school for crippling bullies. So I wasn't about to put up with it now.

I grabbed his hand. I wasn't sure what I intended to do, but it was painful. And then I noticed I could hear a beat.

The steady song I only heard from my mother. I thought it was unique to me and her. And now this piece of trash had the same sound.

Suddenly I was furious. I hated him. I wanted him to know it. I glared and _pushed_.

Then Usk was on the ground. I could still hear the song of his blood. But it was under my control. And I realized what had happened.

Almost automatically I calmed his song before his blood could finish tearing him apart from the inside. I didn't even look back as I went to my base to explore this new facet of my powers.

I didn't get in trouble. While several people thought I had gone a bit overboard the fact that he didn't die counted for a lot. Besides no one wanted to discipline the little boy for hurting someone almost twice his age.

A few days later I tracked him down. He was clearly afraid of me. He was almost painfully polite. I wasn't there for revenge though. No, I was there because I was grateful. While I couldn't duplicate it reliably yet, I knew what I had done.

Awaken Blood. One of the most advance powers of a blood magus. I was here to reward him.

Of course he didn't trust me, but a few enchantment spells took care of that. And then under the influence of my charms he poured out his heart and found out what he really wanted.

Not surprisingly he wanted to be a mage. Sadly that part I can't do anything about. He just wasn't clever enough for wizardry. He also wanted to be a warrior. After talking about it so long it seems it had become a part of him.

It was a comment about his family that changed everything. His father, Harghondrahn Harpell, was a bard. More importantly he belonged to the Brotherhood of the Flaming Heart. A group that was dedicated to reckless pursuit of ones dreams and possessing a magical ritual that helps them do just that.

After that my course was simple. Usk needed a goal. So I gave him one. I told him to combine his swordsmanship with spellcasting. To blend them. If I could I would have hired a bladesinger to teach him.

A few suggestions and a hypnotism later and he had found his purpose. Of course there was still his lack of talent for wizardry to deal with. That's where his father comes in.

The ritual for his group has several effects. One of which is to infuse magic into them. With practice they can master it, becoming sorcerors.

Harghon was so grateful to me for helping his son grow up that he easily agreed to perform the ritual for both of us.

I wasn't sure what I expected but I had not realized that it would change my personality. I was driven and obsessed with blood and necromancy before the ritual. Afterwards it became almost the only thing I cared about. I could even recognize how I changed, I just didn't care.

I kept track of Usk over the years. I'd give him a few pieces of advice, but couldn't do much more. Fortunately the path he chose doesn't need much guidance.

I had made sure to memorize Harghon's actions when he performed the ritual. As far as I could tell, the only requirement was having the template yourself.

So I performed the ritual for the rest of my group. Kethra became even more of a mother hen, but it seems both Bella and Geth are obsessed enough to not show much change. And as for Harkle, it seemed he just wasn't focused enough for the ritual to take.

Regweld was more then willing to undergo the ritual. He confidently stated he couldn't see his interest in breeding fading so he didn't see any problem. After the Cerberus' are finished I plan on pointing him towards the half-dragon template. If I'm lucky he'll recreate it so I won't have to steal it from the Cult of the Dragon later on.

Seeing the effects of the template on Usk inspired me. Not only did it seem to allow me to guarantee loyalty it solved my largest problem with creating powerful minions. Motivation.

In this world the only real cap is yourself. There are few if any level restrictions and the starting ability scores might dictate how you start, it plays much less in where you end up. Sure it increases the odds of surviving each fight and thus leveling, but otherwise doesn't matter.

The drive to succeed and the will to push yourself past your limits are how become stronger. Complacency is the enemy. All the training in the world, no matter how harsh, doesn't matter if they won't apply themselves/ And now I can make sure that they do.

I take the gnoll pups and divide them by gender. Then I test each of the females to see which ones were the most physically fit. Given how spells work I found I can actually tell what the exact numbers if I take enough time. Any female that wasn't healthy enough I placed with the males.

I now had about twenty pups that I normally would have discarded. They were already layered with enchantments and spells, but I added more. Combined with the fire soul ritual I permanently embedded motivation and above all loyalty. Now they will gladly devote their time to train and sacrifice themselves to protect me.

I idly wonder if this was how the nagas created their servants. Weaving charms deep into them until it becomes a part of their very being. Unbreakable bonds of loyalty. I wonder if there's any drawback.

Sure they weren't very independent, but right now I needed meat shields, not scientists. I then used Haste to rapidly mature them. It was here that I lost several of them. Too young or frail. It doesn't matter. They were the discards anyway.

I apply the Blooded One template to the survivors. The alchemical mixture stained their fur a deep red which I loved the look of. When they die I am definitely going to skin them.

In the end six survived the entire process. Which is a terribly low percentage until you consider the fact I was just going to kill them anyway. Now I have six newly adult gnolls who are training in preparation for going adventuring with me.

I've already decided to refer to them as a group as the Blood Pack.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

It's surprising the number of orphans you can find even in a town as small as Longsaddle. Sure it's expected in major cities, but here where there is never more than 2000 people including caravans? It just seems wrong.

Sure I passed them over before, but that was before I had access to the fire soul ritual. Now I'm interested in all of them.

Of course I didn't just take them all in at once. It was a gradual process. Finding out who was interested, slowly layering charms to modify their behavior and only then having them join me. It wasn't hard. Most of them were incredibly eager to join. After all I had Kethra Ivy as a testament to my methods.

I created Ivy Grove as the basis for my new group. Truthfully I wasn't expecting too much from them, but I already knew I was going to need good crafters in the future. And they get expensive pretty fast. So I'm making my own.

It turns out to be surprisingly cheap. A few gold every fortnight and the established crafters easily agree to provide training. Their condition that none of them open competing businesses is accepted. They're going to work for me, not run a shop.

Of course the crafters Longsaddle does have aren't the best. But they're plenty good to get my orphans started. And it's not like I really have a need for them any time soon.

Since my discovery with the skeletons I've gone back to the library and started working on a variety of new spells. Some from Pathfinder and other games and some I just had vague ideas for.

I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Magic truly is infinite in scope.

Tenser was limited in vision. I don't have to only turn myself into a berserker. A thief, diplomat, chef and any other role I can think of is possible. Combined with fabricate and I don't have to have dedicated crafters. Still, they would make things much more convenient.

Like the equipment for the Blood Pack. I thought I could just cast Wall of Iron and Fabricate and be done. Nope. All that equipment uses a lot of materials that aren't just steel. So I had to go and design all steel equipment myself.

A task that was easily minion level instead took me weeks. Weeks spent under the influence of a spell that left me unable to continue my studies with magic. So much time lost.

Worse I still can't just spam Fabricate to make whatever I want. At least I still have the memories of personally designing and making several sets of the all steel equipment. It, just barely, allowed my to duplicate them.

So it's definitely better to have minions do the grunt work for me.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Malchor Harpell didn't like Pharaxes. It was a subtle thing, only realized after watching him for a time. He was just too composed. For a mage that was famously annoyed by my family due to their frivolity that statement would have surprised many. He stood by it though.

It was his eyes he decided. The way he looked out at the world. Even as he cheerfully hugged his mom good bye and waved at her they never completely thawed. Like his thoughts were far away. Or he was faking.

He didn't say anything of course. What would be the point. Liars lie. Time will show whether he's a liar or not. And being a liar doesn't mean you can't learn.

As he watched Authrar Harpell leave he hoped he was wrong. She was his favorite niece and she absolutely adored her son. You could hardly venture into town without hearing her talking about him. A true genius she proclaimed, skilled in almost everything he tries. Not that anyone disagreed.

Only the fact that the boy seemed to back it up made it bearable. He had tried several of the new dished and they were good. He even did some spellwork for Authrar in return for meals. He never regretted it, even if it did mean he spent more time around idiots.

Pharaxes' partnership with Regweld had also born fruit. A lot of people had made fun of Regweld for his bizarre ideas. Well they weren't laughing now. Now everyone wanted one of his new Seeing Eye guard dogs.

Not that he blamed them. He had gotten one himself. Not so sure about the Cerberuses he was talking about. Sounds too much like more of the foolish antics his relatives get into. No he was satisfied with just the Seeing Eye dog.

They were pretty rare outside of the family and incredibly expensive. Not that he cared. He never cared much for company. His research was much more pleasant company. Which was why he lived by himself.

They were still family though. So he went to the annual meetings and occasionally took on an apprentice. Most washed out, but for the ones who didn't he at least made them grow up a little.

Pharaxes was the latest runt his family sent his way. And he was an elf to boot. He wonders if that was part of the reason he was so good. A lot of elves talked about being one with nature and sensing magic. Maybe there really is something there?

Now there was something to consider. An elf's lifespan coupled to a human's drive and a Harpell's total disregard for potential consequences. It was a terrifying though. It was also almost enough to change his mind.

Not that he would. It would stop him. No, he'd seen that hunger for knowledge before. Pharaxes would pass any test he cared set. And turning him away meant he would just seek out teachers elsewhere.

Say what you would, but Malchor has always done right by his family. And Pharaxes had done well by them. So he'll put up with him and teach him a few things. Maybe try to make him a bit more normal. At least he wasn't likely to be as annoying as most of his relatives.

It took less then a month to change his mind.

Pharaxes wasn't annoying. The bastard was infuriating. For a moment he considered changing the insult. Nah. He was too old to care if an insult was appropriate. Besides that was the whole point of insults in the first place!

Malchor realized he was getting distracted. Insults weren't going to help him deal with his newest student. Not that he was a bad student. No the problem was he was almost too perfect.

No child at ten years of age should be that disciplined, that controlled. He never said a word unless allowed, always waited until he had finished talking to ask questions. Hell Pharaxes took notes when he lectured and it was sometimes hours before he got around to returning with a written list of questions.

No he had to label his issue with Pharaxes it was that he was impatient. He would get up at ungodly hours and then spend them just reading everything he could get his hands on. He would also explore the labs. He never touched anything, but he took notes on what he saw and read any notes he had left out. Thankfully he kept all the really dangerous stuff behind wards no student was keyed to.

The worst part was that he hadn't even discovered that habit until he discovered it by accident. When he confronted him he finally realized what bothered him so much. Pharaxes had an aura of boredom the entire time. He wasn't scared or even worried. He, Malchor Harpell, was being humored!

Well, he wasn't going to stand for that. He threw him out and told him he could only return when he learned some respect. He doesn't care if his favorite niece asked him as a favor. It wasn't worth it.

Malchor wondered if that was the work of elf blood in him. Lots of people had complained about smug elven attitudes before. If this was what they were talking about he could see why so many didn't like the pointy eared bastards.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I came back from the Twilight Tower less then impressed. Sure Malchor is a very powerful wizard, but it seems he has more than his share of quirks. He also has an enormous blind spot.

It's a blind spot common to all mages. They depend almost completely on magic. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but when wards and symbols are the only thing protecting your greatest secrets? It's pathetic. A single antimagic field dropped on myself and all of his secrets were accessible.

Malchor did have a number of stone guardians in his tower, but as his student I was given a ring to protect myself from them. It turns out he only uses a single ring for every stone guardian. I doubt he realized when he caught me sneaking around that it was on purpose.

After all it wasn't like there was anything there left for me to learn. I'm not sure of the reason, but Malchor takes amazing notes. He records everything he knows in extremely detail. They're also laid out logically and easy to understand. If feels a bit like he was trying to rebel against his family by being as sensible as possible.

I had long since improved on the Amaneunsis cantrip. My version was nearly instantaneous and copied illustrations although magical writing was still beyond it. It took less than a week to copy his library.

In preparation for studying under Malchor I had built a very small, secluded bunker. I used fabricate to make hundreds of blank books and stored them there. Once I had the run of the Twilight Tower it was simple to send my homunculus to retrieve a blank book and then send it back when it was filled. When I was kicked out I quietly retrieved them.

Crafting is a very delicate process and requires a lot of concentration. It was also incredibly complex and seemingly disjointed. While I had made some progress on the subject Malchor's notes and books provided a context for me to organize everything I knew under.

Of course all that pales in comparison to the real treasure I stole from Malchor. The process to create a Staff of the Magi. After the Time of Troubles it actually becomes impossible to make more of them and they end up counting as artifacts. I had more than one plan that calls for a staff that could be endlessly recharged.

As soon as I got back to my base I started studying everything I copied. I also started experimenting with crafting. I was betting now that I understood the crafting process better I can apply the same principles to blood magic.

The more I understood the more I felt that people really didn't understand magic. Carving spells into my skin was simple enough now that I was old enough to get some privacy. But my creation of an arcane version of a Glyph of Warding made the process infinitely more powerful. Of course my Blood Rune only works using my blood, but it's still a major step forward.

The main breakthrough I made was a spell I called Blood Link. It was a pretty gruesome spell along the lines of Slow Consumption. It allowed me to leech a target's life force in place of my own when crafting a magical item.

I had been very lucky so far and only drained myself a few times before I realized what was happening. I definitely didn't need to make myself even more vulnerable. Being human was bad enough. Well, elven if you want to be technical.

It was Blood Link that led my to me to the next logical step. Well if I was already sacrificing pieces of other creatures why not sacrifice more?

It's been several years, but my notes are still fairly legible. Reading them also brings up similar ideas as well. Life force isn't the only thing that can be sacrificed. Blood, lifespan, pain and even souls are also valid options.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I killed the Blood Pack. Months had passed and not a single one of them had managed to advance past first level. They were a terrible disappointment as bodyguards. I guess I'm still going to be relying on undead for now.

It seems the fire soul template isn't going to be the shortcut to mass producing powerful minions I had hoped. Oh well, it way long shot anyway.

I'm not sure if I am still going to need the plans to expand the ivy Grove Orphanage. While the gnolls didn't level up, every human I've affected has progressed quite rapidly.

Well, except my future crafters. They're all still first level.

Yeah, I'm canceling my expansion plans. I may scout for any exceptional orphans in the future, but I it isn't worth it right now.

At least Geth has finally finished all of the rituals I've requested. It's an impressive list too. I honestly hadn't expected it from him. Altogether there are almost a dozen rituals. He has managed to duplicate pretty much every feat or class boost I can remember from when I played a necromancer. I'm just glad I played them so often.

Between all the rituals the undead created will gain massive boosts to strength, dexterity and health. The rituals also provided boosts to armor, saves, speed and pretty much every other area possible.

They'll also gain a few additional powers such as causing frostbite with a touch and exploding when destroyed. The last I particularly liked since the necrotic energy healed nearby undead despite the bone shrapnel. Although my favorite was probably the one that implanted enough instinctive knowledge to wield a weapon.

And of course Geth, the over achiever that he is, actually successfully altered the rituals so that they work with all of the different undead possible to make using Animate Dead. I'm just glad I have something to add so I don't feel outdone.

Bloodwell is my own semi-original spell. It was based off Bloodstar which attempts to rip all the blood out of everyone in it's area. My spell gently lured blood towards it. Whenever blood is shed, more flows out then normal. It also draws blood towards it although it doesn't do anything with it.

Placed inside a blood hulk it made them much more dangerous. Instead of each blow releasing a gout of blood that quickly weakens the undead, the blood flows away. It withdraws into the body, drawn to the petrified heart that serves as the focus for the Bloodwell spell, granting it limited damage reduction.

In addition every wound any living creature with blood takes in its presence heals the blood hulk. And of course it isn't just magical augmentations that are used to improve them. Their bloated gruesome forms are completely sheathed inside a suit of heavy armor.

Given how much damage they can do with a punch I just added heavily reinforced spiked gauntlets rather than have them wield a weapon. What I did give them was a tower shield, which should provide a very good boost to it's AC even if it can't use formations or tactics.

Seeing everything come together to create what are essentially fantasy tanks was very satisfying. It made me want to immediately hunt down some trolls to create larger blood hulks. Which is actually probably a good idea. Given how difficult blood hulks are to command it makes sense to use the strongest ones possible. Although full size giants would probably be too big to use most of the time.

Looks like I have my first expedition.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Of course I make sure my group is as prepared as possible before leaving. After all there is no such thing as being over prepared. Despite the expense I make sure every member of what I consider my core group is outfitted with at least one powerful magic item.

Unfortunately as much as wanted to pump out an enormous number of magical items to equip my friends and myself it would make me too large a target. That and I couldn't afford to make that many magic items. At it was I ended up borrowing heavily from both Regweld and my mom.

Unless I came up with another source of income I would be years paying them back. The problem was that my trick to creating gems was only of limited use. The gems made were never of high enough quality to serve as actual focal stones so I had to sell them. Which led to the problem of not drawing too much attention or flooding the market.

It was only after I finished crafting that I realized I had concentrated almost exclusively on offense. Paired with the fact that we didn't have a dedicated healer and we were very much a glass cannon. Which is why I ended up giving everyone vials of Tomb Spider venom.

While I couldn't really do much with positive energy, negative energy was heavily used by both Geth and myself. Not to mention the three necrosis carnexes. True it's a bit freaky to use the venom and see your skin go corpse white and have crackling black energy stitch your flesh back together, but it beats dying.

Geth had his rod enlarged and significantly upgraded so that it could be wielded like a quarterstaff. It turned into a collaboration effort between us once I found out he had started worshiping Velsharoon. Makes me wonder if he was going the path of true necromancer? Sadly classes are one of the things no divination spell can actually reveal.

The staff, which now resembled a staff topped with a skull, served as Geth's holy symbol as well as a shrine for the purposes of the Desecrate spell. It granted a small bonus to saves and AC and finally doubled the amount of undead he could control.

Kethra was the easiest. She had finally learned the trick to throwing two knives at once so I expanded the item I already had given her. She now had a double sheath that generated energy darts on one wrist and two +1 wounding darts on the other.

Bella was given an eyepatch. When she closed her exposed eye the eyepatch granted her blindsight. The rest of the time it boosted her regular vision. She accepted it and then immediately started talking about getting her covered eye replaced with something useful. I stopped paying attention when she mentioned turning it into a wand.

I also gave her two Rings of Wizardry I. Since she was going to be one of my heavy hitters I really didn't want to take a chance on her running out of spells.

To Usk I was proud to present scabbard of keen edges that was sized to hold his unique sword. The sword had a massive triangular blade a foot wide and three feet long. It was +1 wounding and despite it's ridiculous size further enchanted to count as a rapier in his hands.

It also had the Bloodfeeding power. It could absorb blood into a reservoir I made. The size of the weapon allowed me to add a massively expanded reservoir. The blood could at any point be injected into anything struck to deal additional damage. A bloodwell spell allowed the glowing sword to draw all blood shed within ten feet towards it as well as increase the effects of the the blades wounding property.

For myself I only made two simple items. Ones I would replace as soon as possible. A rod of undead mastery and a bag of holding. I was already designing a few items, but they were going to horrendously expensive.

Normally this would have all taken years to accomplish. So I cheated. The issue with clones were that they always tried to kill the original or each other. So I didn't let them. Any enchantment spell would be recognized since they would have my memories so I turned them into undead.

As mummies I controlled my clones worked perfectly as magic item factories. At least until I ended up broke. Of course I wasn't going to just leave them around. They were way too dangerous. I should know. So I was sadly forced to dispose of them.

It wasn't until afterwards that I realized the horrible risk I took. A group of people with my exact same memories and powers, all of which hated me. What was I thinking?

Clearly living among the Harpells was affecting me more then I realized. I wonder if I'll end up like poor Chardin, obsessed and crazy, if I stay too long. Was this why Malchor left? I felt a little respect for him all of a sudden. Maybe his problems were just that he was raised here.

It just reinforced my decision to leave and build my own place. That and gave it a real sense of urgency.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Wizard 3 / Blood Magus 8 / Loremaster 2

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 2 / Force Missile Mage 5

Geth Ivy – Necromancer 1 / Master Specialist 2 / Pale Master 2 / Cleric 1

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 1 / Master Thrower 4

Usk Harpell – Swashbuckler 3 / Sorceror 2 / Spellsword 1 / Arcane Duelist 1


	5. Pack

Chapter 4 Pack

Torgar crouched low in the grass as he crept forward. Alongside him were a full score of his tribal brothers. Stupid traders should have known better then to travel through Black Raven lands without more guards. Probably trying to save money. Fools. What good is money going to do him now?

They had been following the large half dozen wagons for the past three days. The caravan had been spotted leaving from the large walled off ranch and no doubt hold plenty of supplies with how low they rode.

So far nothing had attacked them. Probably scared of how many of them there were. Well, he recognized the helmets and had no worries. Gnolls were always cowards. When they see they're outnumbered they'll break and take their hyenas with them. The mages, attacked from all sides, would then fall.

It just proves how stupid they were to set all the guards so close to their camp. While it keeps them from picking off the guards it means they won't have time to give a warning before it was too late.

With a scream Torgar launched himself forward, signaling the start of the attack. He felt a sliver of grudging respect when the gnolls all started shooting instead of panicking. That was quickly buried under rage when he heard his tribemen yell in pain as they were hit.

He charged the closest archer even as his vision went red with battle fury. Dozens of armored hyenas burst out from under the wagons, several headed for him.

With a jerk he leaned back far enough for one of them to fly by and brought his axe down on it's back. It collapsed with the blade buried deep. He swung sideways, cutting through two more hyenas when he felt jaws clamp around his ankle.

A hard stomp broke its jaw and he leaped back to give himself space. In disbelief he saw the four hyenas he had slain get back up. With their armor torn apart he could now see that there were only bones inside.

He felt a shiver of fear, but ignored it in favor of yelling encouragement to his fellow warriors. All around him he could hear what he thought to be warcries from the rest of his tribe.

Encouraged Torgar went into a frenzy of hacking. He ignored the bites and slashes as he focused on the enemy in front of him. Every time he destroyed one it exploded. Bones and shadows tearing at him. He didn't let it stop him. It wasn't until the last hyena fell that he felt safe to look around.

In shock he saw the devastation. Bodies lay thrown all around and fires burning everywhere. Too many of the bodies were of his fellow tribesmen.

Even then he might have had hope if he hadn't seen the shattered remains of the guards. They, like the hyenas, were all just skeletons. The real danger was the mages. And none of them were down.

A laughing warrior danced back and forth, almost single handedly protecting the cluster of mages standing on the last wagon. Weapons bounced off his skin and his sword seemed to tear the blood from the people he fought.

His only aid was a massive squat figure only carrying a giant shield. It was shaped like a golem, tall and squat. It's strength matched one as well. As he watched it crushed a skull with a single blow of it's armored fist. Which meant they had never stood a chance.

Even as he tried to call for a retreat the last of his raven riders crashed into the ground, brought down by a stream of silver darts sent from a pair of women.

And then a black robed figure gestured with a staff made of bone. What he saw was too much. Torgar knew he was dead, but for the chance to kill the one who dishonored the dead by enslaving them he could do nothing else.

He charged. His dead brothers restrained him and he dragged them with him. They will rest better having seen up close him avenging them.

The beam of light, stole his strength and he collapsed, buried under his desecrated kin. The last thing he saw was a massive spiked gauntlet filling his vision.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

That had come way too close for comfort. I had done plenty of research for my gnoll hunt. I had done even more before heading out. I had thought I had a good concept of what dangers existed out here.

The Starmetal Hills to the east were once home to dwarven clans. Now they're overrun by bandits, orcs and random monsters. Lurkwood to the north was just as bad except they were more prone to giants. And of course the west has the Surbrin Hills which was mostly populated by orcs.

Throughout all those areas the Uthgardt barbarian tribes wander around. They have very few fixed settlements and none nearby. Which means this mess was just from a random encounter.

I have no doubt the rest of the tribe will cause problems when this raiding party doesn't return. All the Uthgardt's hate magic. Longsaddle claiming territory they consider theirs just made it that much worse.

But I never suspected they were nearly rabid. There was only about twenty of them and we clearly had a dozen guards and twice that in guard dogs. Sure they 'killed' almost all of them, but over half of them died doing so. Many due to the skeletons exploding when killed.

God I love Destructive Retribution.

When Bella and Kethra started cutting them down I expected them to retreat. Instead several of them charged them, including their giant ravens. Even the blood hulk didn't give them pause.

The Wall of Fire I put up to cut off their retreat was almost worthless. None of them tried to escape! At least it made it easier to see.

At least it wasn't a total loss. Thanks to the barbarians there were plenty of bodies. Even better most of them weren't completely dead, just very close. A little work and they stabilized long enough for me to finish my rituals.

Everyone else went back to sleep. I doubt anything else will attack tonight. By the time everyone roused in the morning I had five more blood hulks completed. I handed off control to Usk and Bella. Even if they didn't really care for undead they can at least use them to replace the guards. They can't really complain, they're already controlling the horses.

I converted the rest into more skeletons. Combined with the few surviving original skeletons we now had enough guards each of the six wagons had at least three guards. Sadly there wasn't anything I could do to replace the wolves. Well, except maybe use the giant birds. Maybe another time.

Traveling through open terrain that was so empty was incredibly boring. Sure paranoia past the time for a few days, but it didn't last. The only life we ran into were a few traders. I guess large groups have pretty different encounter tables.

Of course the things that didn't steer clear of us were the things that were confident they could take on a group as heavily protected as ours was.

The white dragon most definitely did not count. Despite being the size of a horse the way it mindlessly attacked I almost assumed it was rapid. Still, it's body should be useful for Regweld's studies.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The attack was very obvious. Clearly whatever was heading our way did not care for stealth. I supposed I should at least give them credit to wait until they were in sight of use to break out in battle cries.

Almost a dozen orcs along with a small pack of dire wolves all charged the caravan. Since we had plenty of time to prepare all six of the blood hulks were in front in a loose line. All the guards were wielding bows and standing on top of the wagons.

Showing how stupid they were, they all stopped to fight the blood hulks. Kethra sent a steady stream of knives into the melee, keeping the blood hulks from being overwhelmed. The rest of us waited. There was way too much noise for the few dozen orcs to be everything.

Our caution was rewarded when a band of ogres appeared. A large rock sailed over their head and slammed into one of the blood hulks, knocking it over. It was quickly followed by several more.

Usk charged the ogres alone. It was brave and if I didn't know better I would have thought him crazy. He had already dropped three illusions on himself though. He'll be fine.

Bella directed the archers to concentrate on what we could now see were hill giants. She supported them with volleys of magic missile. Still, giants are tough so I cast one of my very few combat spells.

Shadowfire Bolt. It was a heavily modified lightning bolt that had the same range as a fireball. It also dealt a combination of necrotic and fire damage. It's not cheap, but my staff handles that little detail. Which made for a fairly decent sixth level spell.

Of course I was never satisfied with decent. So I sacrificed one of the skeletons which thanks to another spell channeled it's burst of necrotic energy into my spell, empowering it. And of course I made sure I was standing on top of the wagon that held a bloodfire ooze caged within.

The Bloodfire Ooze is a fascinating creation. It was an actual creature that was created with a simple blood magic ritual. It had the amazing ability that caused all fire spells cast nearby to be empowered.

Boosted several times over my spell, a line of glowing black flames, tore deep into two of the hill giants, causing one of them to collapse. I was pretty impressed they both didn't die from that.

Geth immediately followed me up with a fireball. Scorched and leaving two of their own behind the rest of the hill giants fled. They didn't even bother to warn the other members of their ambush.

Not that it would have made much difference. Bella had apparently gotten impatient and unleashed a massive swarm of magic missiles. The remaining orcs and wolves were instantly felled.

Seeing how large the orcs stood, easily eight feet, triggered a memory. Ogrillon. Half-orc and more importantly half-ogre. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually remembered a few of the details for the template.

I come out of my thoughts in time to see Usk cut down the last ogre. Thankfully he doesn't finish them off. Probably because he saw me making the blood hulks earlier. Truly Tymora is smiling down on me.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Throd was very smart. Too smart. So smart he knew being smart was bad. Smart ogres were killed, so he pretended not to be smart.

It wasn't hard. No one else was smart so he didn't have anyone to talk to. So he talked to his dogs. They were always happy to see him and he could talk about anything he wanted without worrying they would tell on him.

It was soon noticed that he got along with the dire wolves and he was quickly placed in charge. He liked his job. He didn't have to fight in the front and he always got plenty to eat since his dogs always brought the animals to him first.

The only thing he didn't like was the fact that his dogs often got hurt. The hill giants in the Theorth clan didn't like taking care of things so they killed hurt dogs.

The hunting trips were normal by now. He went out with his dogs and let them find any small people nearby. Then they chased them down.

He stayed back as the orcs and his dogs attacked. The clan members would throw big rocks. His stupid kin would chase after the orcs. After everything was dead he'd try to help any dogs who weren't hurt too bad.

Only this time was different. The little people had wagons. Normally it was ponies. A wagon was a lot of stuff. Rich. He'd never seen six at once. He didn't like it. Different was dangerous.

He didn't matter though. The clan members all wanted the wagons. They ordered everyone to attack.

He sent out his dogs. The very fat metal people stood in front. They were strong. He saw one crush an orc with a punch. They might be stronger then him.

Most little people. These had magic. Silvery darts flew everywhere. His dogs were dying. When his kin charged he followed.

One of the little people ran up to meet them. He expected Okruk to crush him. Instead the little man dodged and swung a big knife and cut Okruk's leg off.

They all tried to surround him but it didn't matter. He dodged almost everything. When he did get hit, clubs and spears just bounced off. He tried to back away but wasn't fast enough.

Throd was surprised when he woke up. He hurt, but he wasn't dead. When he looked around he wasn't so sure that was a good thing.

Two of the little people were standing over Okruk who was snarling at them. It seems they were the only survivors. The others were all piled next to him. Throd wonders if they were asking them questions before killing them.

The two ignored Okruk and started chanting. He felt terror when he saw what was happening to Okruk. Blood from the pile of bodies was flying through the air and into Okruk.

As he watched Okruk screamed as he was stuffed with blood. He was glad when the screaming finally stopped. As he watched the very red bloated shape that used to be Okruk stand up he was terrified. He didn't care what they asked him, he was going to answer everything.

When he saw a giant wall of metal melt and cover Okruk in armor he realized he recognized the shape. When the large shield appeared on it's arm he knew he was right. All the fat armored things used to be people.

When they walked over to him he yelled out as fast as he could. "Throd answer all questions! Not hide anything!"

They paused and he felt hope for the first time. Maybe he won't die like Okruk.

They asked him a lot of questions. Weird questions like what he did and stuff. They didn't even care about where the rest of Theorth clan lived. Then they started asking even weirder questions like how the big orcs were made.

Throd was very happy they offered to keep him. He said yes. He did not want to get turned into one of those things.

Being told he would have to mate with the dog people was odd. But he already had to do it with orcs and they were like wrinkly kids. Maybe he could pretend it's an orc wearing a fur coat?

Best of all he was going to be allowed to work it tiny dogs!

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I wasted no time making my way back to Longsaddle. I really didn't want to chance losing my new ogre. Throd was perfect for me. A former slave who didn't like fighting. It helped that he was terrified of me and the blood hulks.

Breeding ogre blood into the my flind gnolls should eventually allow me to create a new subspecies. Between that and the Guardian template they should be fairly powerful. I just wish I could remember all the possible templates. I'm sure there were more I could have stacked on.

At the compound things were progressing nicely. The first generation of my crossbred flinds were growing rapidly and the female gnolls were already pregnant again. I doubt I'll be able to get away again now that the pups are old enough to start training.

That didn't bother me anymore since I had a plan. The ogre had actually reminded me of a setup I had used when DMing. I was combining as many bits of lore I recalled for this. My notes really helped there.

Dread Warriors are one of the few types of undead that are naturally loyal to the caster. The main problems were that they required a humanoid body trained as a fighter. Gnolls counted as humanoid and fighter just meant training with a wide variety of weapons.

The best part was that the undead retained the experiences and training they originally had. So they didn't lose their levels. Training hundreds of gnolls to high levels would be virtually impossible. But I didn't need to. I only needed one.

Between the clone spell and deepspawn I can just copy the best gnoll fighter over and over. I also had ideas for grafts and other boosts to incorporate. My troops were going to be terrifying.

Of course that's still years from now.

Right now I focus on creating my new subspecies. I use haste on all the females and have them breed with Throd. Alternating full ogre and flind fathers should keep inbreeding problems from cropping up for the half dozen or so generations I'll need to establish a viable population. Although I will probably try to capture a few more flinds and ogres later on.

The males I just kill. Until my new breed is established I'm not chancing them diluting the gene pool. And of course with a new, much larger breed of gnolls I don't need a troll anymore.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Adanac Harpell was not easily impressed. Growing up in Longsaddle he was surrounded by the astounding and illogical. He had learned to accept the bizarre as mundane.

Which is why he viewed Pharaxes as a blessing. Sure his race baffled the sages, but his mind was the real treasure. He had the ability to look at things and make odd intuitive leaps that made no sense, but still worked.

Most would be put off by how quickly he progressed in his studies but he seemed to naturally draw people to him. Half the family seemed to follow his lead. Not that he abused their trust. Just the opposite in fact.

Both Authrar and Regweld had become incredibly successful after Pharaxes had started working with them. And most of his generation were inspired by his example and started studying much harder then before.

Which was one of the main reason he never objected to Pharaxes forays into necromancy. Sure it was an unsavory art, but Pharaxes had never given him cause to worry. Besides, it wasn't like his mom cared what he did after he started cooking.

Even his excursions benefited the family. The first time he had bribed most of the Longriders to accompany him. None of them had died and all of them had gotten valuable experience. And on this last one he had managed to wipe out one of the bands of Uthgardt that was harassing the ranchers.

So when Pharaxes had returned and immediately started a large construction project just outside the western town walls he was curious. Which was why he sent his son to find out what was happening this time.

"So let me get this straight. Pharaxes is building what he calls a bath house? And it's just a place where people can take a bath?" He didn't get it.

"Yes! It's amazing. He had showers to clean yourself off with quickly and heated pools to relax in. He already has one set up and I get to try it. It was the most comfortable thing ever!" Well, his son certainly seemed interested in the project.

"Where's he getting the water? He built his bathhouse clear across town from the river."

"No clue, but I think he found a hidden spring. Despite how fast he's building the ground is already getting damp. He has a lot of ideas." With that Ardanac places several pages worth of writing on his desk.

His son keeps talking even as he's reading the proposal. "He says as soon as he's finished setting up the bathhouse he wants to channel the water into a proper moat. He also has plans to build a proper wall with gatehouses."

As he kept reading he ignored his son's enthusiastic descriptions. While Ivy Mansion had been magically fortified the rest of the town had little in the way of defenses. Longsaddles real defense had always come from them. Everyone in the north has heard of the Harpells. As such Ivy Mansion had been as much about showing off as it was about protecting themselves. Well, that and his families propensity for going overboard.

He paused when he came to one part of the document. "How in the nine hells did he find a salt water spring?"

Ardanac just shrugs.

He sighs. Dealing with his family often gives him a headache. He really hopes his son hasn't been infected.

"Well tell him his request for the alchemy equipment is approved. Regweld destroyed his lab again, might as well order all of it at once."

He sighed again. "And tell him we'll post the bounty list for the requested specimens."

Now he really did have a headache. Ever since Malchor moved away he had been left in charge because no one else cared for it. Just one more sign of how eccentric his family was. He doubted there were many places where everyone actively tries to avoid being placed in charge.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Truthfully me bathhouse was a cover for my actual project. When we had first left I had seen a stone archway covered in orcish runes. It wasn't until we were back and I heard the name of a recently arrived family. The Hjilts had moved from Silverymoon, but more importantly their oldest daughter Suka was the one to lead the defense of Longsaddle against a goblin army.

An army that arrives via a portal that suddenly activates. A few discreet questions reveal Suka is fifteen and already a Longrider. She's also one of the few who make frequent use of Ivy dungeon.

The portal was outside of the town before I started my bath house, but it didn't stay that way. I claimed a pretty large chunk of land when I started building although I ended up letting my mom put her newest festhall right next to it.

The main point was that I managed to gain control of the portal and the area around it. I built a very large tower and claimed it was to protect the unusual spring I dug up. In truth I was using a simplified Decanter of Endless Water. It was limited to only a steady stream of salt water.

I placed it at the top of the tower and used the alchemical equipment to extract the salt. The resulting fresh water poured down the side of the tower from a series of enchanted spouts into my bath house.

I was using the overflow as an excuse to set up a proper moat and defensive wall. It wasn't too elaborate, but even a simple ten foot wall was more then we currently had. Not that it was anything close to impenetrable, not with nearly a dozen separate gates. Still if the goblins ever broke free at least they wouldn't just show up inside the town.

Not that the goblins would have an easy time marching away from the gate. I enclosed the area around the gate inside a large stone chamber filled with small closet sized enclosures. Each one housed a skeletal archer behind a metal reinforced arrow slit. I also dug a fairly large pit and lined the bottom with spikes.

Then I researched a more powerful version of an alarm spell. A permanent version that would delivery me a short message when triggered. I really don't want to be forced to constantly check up on the room. After placing it I sealed the room. When they do arrive, I'll know.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Alongside my bath house I opened up my own shop. The orphans at Ivy Grove still hadn't progressed much, but I ended up cheating with them. My example to the contrary it seems killing really does make it easier to level up.

So I ran them through the Ivy Dungeon. Then I had them fight real skeletons and zombies. They worked in teams and given very crude equipment, things no one would ever buy. And then I told them if they wanted better equipment they could make it themselves.

Driven by the prospect of dying and after several near fatalities they leveled. I limited them to light armor, no shields and limited array of weapons. I also painted bright red spots on the undead. If they stuck a spot I made it freeze for a few seconds. In short I practically molded them into very limited rogues.

It wasn't long before their skills rose. They even started cross training their crafts in order to help each other. That was hastened by the fast that I started placing conditions, such as only using bows, on them. It didn't really take that much work for me. A few hours a week was usually more than enough. And the results spoke for themselves.

Within a season they had gained three levels. They were also firmly disillusioned with the idea of adventuring. Between access to my farms and Wall of Iron they rapidly turned out virtually everything possible. To keep from driving everyone else out of business I restricted my store to only masterwork items when possible.

The exception were javelins. An encounter with some kind of enormous porcupine had resulted in the death of all but three Longriders out of a party of almost a dozen. Suka had been the one to end up killing it, charging it with a lance once arrows proved useless.

By then it was standard practice to drag back any unusual corpses. Regweld paid extremely well for anything new. And as a happy side effect we had more people volunteering to be Longriders than evere before.

When I saw the creature I was inspired. According to the report the quills it was covered with were extremely effective. The design of the quills could easily be used to create a barbed javelin, but the amount of work involved would make them hideously expensive. So I went another route.

Simulacrum are magical constructs that mimic actual creatures. More importantly they have all of the base natural abilities of the original. Sure they're more fragile and overall less capable, but I only really cared about the creatures quills.

Even better for me simulacrum aren't exact copies. Normally that's a drawback since the original purpose was to create a perfect duplicate, but for me it was even more useful.

The original creature was covered in long quills that were in a wide range of sizes. When I constructed my simulacrum of it I made sure the quills only came in two sizes. Darts and javelins. Although I probably would have forgotten about the former if Kethra hadn't reminded me.

Obviously my store didn't make that much money. In lands such as ours where magic is the primary defense equipment that is good enough is often preferred. Especially when it good enough is a mere fraction of the price.

Still it should be enough to bring me a new source of gold. And it was likely to increase dramatically fairly soon. I met a merchant by the name of Gondyl Ilitheeum who was eager to buy in bulk in return for a discount.

Gondyl was incredibly honest in his dealings with me, even to the point of allowing me the use of truth spells on him. It was an all too rare occurrence. In return I agreed to partner with him.

He had plans for eventually opening his own upscale inn eventually, but for now is going to be setting up a shop to sell my masterwork equipment through. Of course this deal did require that I safely transport the goods since they are all too prime a target to otherwise chance.

So it looks like I'm headed out once again.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Bella and Kethra, always eager to see new sights, accompany me. They were very eager to see another city. For all that they've accomplished and how powerful they are they're still a pair of fifteen year old girls.

Worse they're girls who are interested in me. It was something I had noticed recently in our training sessions. While I admit they aren't unattractive it seems that despite my apparent physical maturity I reached sexual maturity. I can only assume that being an elf my hormones will take longer to kick in or that elves experience them differently.

The rest of the group had stayed behind to manage all of my various projects and properties. I didn't like splitting up so much and was already planning on seeing if there were any promising orphans in Triboar that I can cultivate.

I didn't like the fact that so many members of what I considered my core group were tied up. I either needed managers or more members. Members would be preferred if only because I doubt I'll make it through everything without losing anyone.

Which was why I had brought along Huron and Throd. Huron with his dogs would be able to keep watch. Throd was serving as Huron's apprentice since he didn't have any stud duties to perform currently. He was also an intimidating bastard decked out in his new armor and bristling with weapons.

Not that I anticipate any problems right now. But it never hurts to be cautious.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Wizard 1 / Loremaster 2 / Blood Magus 10

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 2 / Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 1

Geth Ivy – Necromancer 1 / Master Specialist 2 / Pale Master 2 / Cleric 1

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 1 / Master Thrower 5

Usk Harpell – Swashbuckler 3 / Sorceror 2 / Spellsword 2 / Arcane Duelist 2


	6. Wings

Chapter 5 Wings

The trip to Triboar was fairly uneventful. Huron's Seeing Eye dogs, of which he now has three, along with Throd's Cerberus pup ensured we always had plenty of warning. Truthfully there wasn't much danger or company as even other merchants seemed to avoid our wagons. Although the ogre and six blood hulks may have had something to do with it.

We were still a few days out from Triboar when we ran into the exception. Rather then frightened, they actually seemed relieved to see my party. They also seemed fairly down on their luck from their appearance.

Kethra, mother hen that she was, wasted no time in ordering us to stop for the day. Not that we really minded. She gently questioned them while we made camp.

I didn't mind helping them, but didn't really care about them either. So I just ignored them until I heard the say that they were from Wyvern Falls.

I actually froze in shock for a moment. I recognized that name. Eye of the Wyvern was one of the very first DnD adventures I played. My DM had strung together a bunch of short adventures for our campaign. It was also the first time I played a necromancer.

Wyvern Falls had been pretty much taken over by our party. We expanded it and used it as our main base. I have a lot of fond memories of that place.

Listening to their tale of woe was almost nostalgic for me. When they mentioned they were heading to Triboar to request one of the Twelve to hunt down the giant lizards I suddenly interrupted. "We'll take care of it."

"Milord, we're a poor farming community. We can't afford to pay much."

I reassured him easily. I didn't need anything from them. I did question him enough to confirm the lizards were very likely wyvernlings. There was no way I was going to chance someone else getting hold of the Eye of the Wyvern artifact.

Thankfully Gondyl didn't mind the detour. In fact he seemed interested in seeing just what we were capable of. Of course my offer to use magic to speed up the construction of his shop probably helped.

I didn't have to ask the others. The girls were all for helping out. It also raised their opinion of me too if the looks were any indication. I'm really starting to hope that puberty kicks in soon. They were quickly developing into quite beautiful women.

Huron was just excited to be going on a real adventure. And of course Throd doesn't get a say.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

When making our way to Wyvern Falls we passed another village named Haven. Recognizing it from the adventure I sent my familiar up ahead to scout. We had been riding for less then an hour before it reported back.

"Everyone. We're leaving the track for a bit. There's something up ahead I want to check out."

It only took another couple of hours to locate the remains of a once large tower. It looks like only the first floor is intact and even then just barely. Interestingly enough it looks like the largest holes have been patched up recently.

We approach cautiously, sending two blood hulks in first. Another pair watches our back as the last two guard the wagons. I remember what was supposed to be here, but the repairs weren't in the original story.

When arrows lash out we charge. With the blood hulks we're safe enough and Kethra starts returning fire with her darts. Bella suddenly stop and I notice her eye is closed. With a cry of kobolds she sends out a stream of magic missiles.

The blood hulks trigger several traps when they enter. Spikes, poison gas and mounted crossbows all trigger. By the time we catch up they're busy pounding a group of dire weasels into the ground. A flurry of knives easily finished them off and I have them clear the way.

There's only one door and it's obviously new. Seems clear enough. They trigger several traps going through the door and even more in the corridor beyond it. It was obvious that stealth was no longer an option so I was going for speed.

The blood hulks charged the door at the far end, smashing through with a roar. The room wasn't empty. A dozen hairless half-rotten figures were present. They swarmed the blood hulks, snarling and snapping like rapid animals.

Luckily as undead the ghouls couldn't paralyze the blood hulks. I was about to order the second pair of blood hulks forward when Huron whistles a short tune. Suddenly the pack of dogs run past us and start tearing into the ghouls.

The three Seeing Eye dogs, along with Throd's Cerberus, easily dominated the fight. The rest of us only picked off a few because we were bored. Huron was definitely the man of the hour there.

As the fight progressed though I realized the dogs were performing a bit too well. I had kept an eye on the project since it started. I knew what they were capable of. This was beyond that.

A blow that would have easily killed one merely sent it flying. Bites that would tear flesh instead severing limbs. They were much more powerful than they should be. Almost like animal companions...

Which is exactly what I'm looking at. Looks like I have a new core member.

Once they were all down and their remains destroyed just in case we moved on. Two doors this time, but one led to a room full of supplies. The other was locked. Gotta love blood hulk battering rams.

The next room was much larger and looked like a cross between a library and arcane lab. The far end had a door which was held open by a kobold. He was dressed in very nice leather armor and was holding a small steel box.

Looks like we've found the dungeon boss.

The kobold yells something and a hunched figure speeds towards us. When it slams into the blood hulk it stops, but the air stirred by it's movement brought it's smell with it. It was horrific. Like if someone had tried to ferment a skunk and the result had gone bad.

Both girls thew up. The smell from that did not help. Enraged I focused inwards.

As I entered an almost meditative trance I _listened_. Once I could hear the song of my own blood I searched for echoes. A beat that resonates with mine. And then I reached out and tapped Bella on her shoulder.

Blood Walk was a recent development of mine. To me it feel a bit like listening to a record player and with perfect timing swapping to the next disc between beats. The others say it feels incredibly intimate. Like I was gently embracing their entire being. Which might have been when they started flirting with me.

It's very useful for transportation. So useful I even sat down to research how to duplicate it. For some reason I'm the only one who can use the resulting seventh level Blood Walk spell.

I erupt from the chest of the kobold, choosing to explosively tear my way free from his body. I also reflexively give a command to his blood as I leave his body. I had been experimenting with my control of blood and I now used one of my favorite. _Paralyze_.

It doesn't last long, but it's more then enough time to capture him behind a Wall of Force. By the time the spell runs out everyone has recovered and we're ready to interrogate him. I had also had time to study him and realized that he wasn't normal. If my suspicions were right, he was a half-dragon.

It doesn't take long. Truthfully since we weren't willing to waste any magical healing on him he died pretty quickly. Gondyl turned out to have a gift for divination and aided us by using Detect Thoughts although the information was limited.

The kobold was a half-dragon, one deliberately bred to serve as a servant to something calling itself the Smoke Dragon. It trained him in what necromancy he knows and sent him out to clear out the area. He wasn't the only one either.

I wasn't sure I how I felt about that. On one hand, there's a fang dragon in the area. On the other hand, the story obviously no longer applies. And worse the dragon is actually clever. I found a troll in the back of the lab. They had chained it down and was using it to feed the ghouls. Smart, powerful and versatile just sounds like a terrible combination to fight.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

In the end I opt to continue, but fetch reinforcements. The kobold had a bag of holding and it was enough to hold both Geth and Usk when they were under the effects of a Reduce Person. With my party once more complete I felt much more confident with my decision.

We were ambushed twice along two way to Wyvern Falls. Each time by groups of wyvernlings. They were nasty critters. Viscious and fearless. Luckily they weren't too dangerous, at least not to us. The dogs killed them all each time.

We actually ran into another merchant. A halfling by the name of Murri who drove a wagon almost as large as mine and a native of Wyvern Falls. He joined us for safety and after seeing the wyvernlings killed seemed very glad for it.

Personally I found Murri annoying. He was full of odd phrases like 'Nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs'. Who speaks like that?

At least he introduced us to the town and his friendly attitude made it much easier to get information. As I suspected the wyvernlings seemed to be coming from a single direction. Local maps labeled it as Wyvern Tor a crag that supposedly used to house a large nest of wyverns.

The closest thing the town has to a mayor was a man called Old John. He was the one to send the messengers to Triboar. Despite Murri vouching for us he was clearly suspicious. I doubt he'd have helped us at all if he wasn't so desperate.

Case in point, we had barely been in town a few hours when the alarm bell rang. It seems the wyvernlings were getting bolder. They had been waiting until nightfall to attack before now.

We follow the sounds of panicking animals coming from the barn and send in two blood hulks. Half a dozen wyvernlings leap from the hayloft down onto them, clawing furtively at their armor. Spells and darts quickly killed them all and dogs quickly ambushed the ones already feeding.

Appropriately Geth takes the opportunity to animate all of the wyvernling corpses. Combined with the ones gathered on the journey he how has over a dozen zombies. I told him to make zombies for now since I wanted flying minions. If we end up facing a dragon they'll be useful.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Climbing up the rocky slope alongside the waterfall that gives the town its name is not easy. The slope is steep and mostly shale so rocks breaking off and miniature avalanches are common. I'm glad I left the wagons behind, they would never have made it.

We are ambushed by wyvernlings again. I'm really starting to love Huron's build. The dogs were on them before we had a chance to react and killed them just as quickly.

They also were the ones to alert us first to the sounds of other creatures. I cast Silence so we can at least try and use stealth. What we find is a large rocky clearing that seems to be filled with goblins.

There much have been at least forty of them. From the number of wyvernling skeletons laying around they've actually been hunting down and eating the majority of them. That no longer seems to be the case though.

Cages line one side of the clearing, each one holding a much larger and likely older wyvernling. Harnesses next to each cage indicate they're mounts. An almost fully grown wyvern sits calmly nearby, next to a kobold clearly in charge.

The kobold is another half dragon. And in a large iron rack that I recognized lay a troll. Looks like the use of trolls for food is something this entire group does.

Which isn't good. If more monsters figure out that trick entire hordes could erupt out of nowhere. I really need to root out this entire group.

At my signal Geth send all of his zombies gliding in. The goblins initially cheer their appearance. Only the kobold realized somethings wrong. He dashes over to his mount even as the zombies attack.

Even as the zombies drew the attention to the center of the camp where they landed the blood hulks arrive. They crash into the back of the group, panicking them.

None of the wyvern riders make it into the air. The cages were defended by the girls who picked off anyone trying to open them. The kobold mounted his wyvern only to have one of its wings cut off by Usk. He blasts Usk with lighting from a silver wand, but doesn't get far. Four darts from Kethra slam into him at the same time.

The blood hulks charge in right after with the dogs close behind. The goblins broke. We probably only managed to kill around half of them, but it just wasn't worth it to chase them.

While I wouldn't have minded pressing on two things changed my mind. Geth wanted to change out his zombies for the larger corpses. And the kobold had a staff.

It was an amazing piece of work too. It held five charges which renewed each day. A charge could be spent to cast any of three spells. The spells were Cure Critical Wounds, Neutralize Poison, and Restoration.

He also had the odd silver wand, which on closer inspection was too thick to be a wand. If I didn't know better I'd think it was some kind of laser rifle. It took awhile, but I finally recognized it. A lightning lance.

A grell alchemical weapon. How the hell did a kobold get ahold of one of these? Not to look a gift horse in the mouth. From what I remember grell alchemy has some weird rules. Reverse engineering this should give me access to the principles they use. Or in game terms unlock the skill. Even if I don't find the Eye this trip will have been worth it.

Of course I do want the Eye so the next morning we press on.

The path, likely created by the wyvernlings, becomes even more treacherous to navigate. Again the dogs prove themselves when they warn us of the nearby wyverns.

Going by the fairly massive bed of bones it seems that wyverns are cannibalistic. As I expected by now there was also more than one fully grown wyvern. If I had realized the situation I probably would have waited. As it was we now had to deal with a full nest of hungry adult wyverns.

Nine wyverns took flight at our approach, roaring out challenges. I grinned as I finally had a reason to enter combat. I quickly cast Dimensional Jaunt, Haste and Kiss of the Vampire.

I step and I appear above one of the wyverns. As I fall I slash out with both hands and touch it. Negative energy surges and like that I snuff out it's spark of life.

The rest of the group springs into action, launching attacks against the swooping wyverns. I teleport, bringing down another wyvern. When I look for my next target I see the blood hulks have managed to grapple most of the wyverns.

Geth's zombies are moving, but I'll let them handle clean up. I teleport behind the last airborne wyvern and once again reach out. It doesn't die, but weakened it falters in midair. I keep hold of it until it crashes into the ground. Finishing of the rest doesn't take long. And of course it was then that the sun was finally high enough to shine down on the Eye.

A wyvernling started forming in front of us and I quickly slapped it down. Then I reached down to grab the foot wide ruby.

Pain. Agony wracks my body as my hand chars. It was almost instinctive to reach out and tug on the life force of the creature I touched. As I felt myself heal I realized what had happened.

The Eye of the Wyvern really is an artifact. It's not summoning the wyvernlings, it's creating them. Creating life. Anything that does that would require enormous amounts of positive energy. And idiot me had touched it while under the effects of Kiss of the Vampire.

At least draining the wyvernling had healed me.

Our return to Wyvern Falls and announcement of having wiped out the entire nest was cheered. The entire town got together to throw us a party. We even donated an intact wyvern skeleton for them to display.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The town wasn't the only recipient of wyvern skeleton. Gondyl had been very helpful as well as considerate. He had also stayed behind and worked with my familiar to scout out the vale. He had been given three skeletons although he only chose to keep the skulls. And Gondyl deserved them. Between his work and my owl I had found several other groups of monsters.

I couldn't be sure which ones might be involved in what I was now thinking of as the Smoke Dragon Cult. So I decided that we're going to hunt them all down . And I know exactly where to start.

It was while scouting the one of the locations that my owl had been noticed. She had spotted a half dragon kobold. Unfortunately the kobold had noticed her as well. The kobold had cast a Melf's Acid Arrow at it and I felt every second of it's suffering as it's insides dissolved.

When I recovered very little mattered to me more than vengeance. They might as well as cut off a limb. It felt like I was missing a piece of my soul. To soothe the ache make myself functional I summoned another familiar.

This time I summon a hawk. I can feel the bond locking onto me and it seems to fill a hole Hedwig's loss had caused. With the bond my vision sharpened to an incredible degree. For a moment I even considered sacrificing my familiar to try and obtain even more enhanced senses.

A feeling of foreboding warned me away from that train of thought. Actually, considering third edition had you lose experience points and second edition penalties tended to be worse...I may have dodged a bullet just now.

Still I can already feel that I am lesser somehow. Like I am more fragile. My guess is that I lost constitution points and some testing confirmed it. A 13 isn't terrible, since I had already lost a few points when crafting, but it's still much lower than I'm comfortable with.

Of course it doesn't matter if I just don't have a constitution score. Given what's coming turning myself into a lich would make it easier to survive long enough to really make some changes. Of course second edition is pretty finicky about some things. So any attempt would have to be after the Godswar. Plenty of time to consider it.

For now the immediate issue with the Smoke Dragon cult. Gondyl had identified the place Hedwig had died. Looks like I'm heading to Old Owl Well.

Of course we did stop by Triboar first. We even stayed a few extra days since I had promised Gondyl to help set up his shop. He ended up naming it the Everwyvern Armory in honor of our adventure together.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Old Owl Well is an ancient magical ruin. It predates local history. What is known is that it is currently the home to an entire tribe of orcs numbering in the hundreds.

While normally that would be a bit much to handle, I had a plan. It was simple. And if it worked we wouldn't have to fight them at all.

Getting there proved no problem which didn't surprise me. With how aggressive the orcs were rumored to be I have no doubt that they have long since driven everything else out.

No what surprised me was the clearly new fortified camp surrounding the previous lone tower. The walls were crude and not very high. They were also new. Hedwig hadn't seen them when she had been here.

If I wasn't so angry with them I'd probably feel flattered that they had done all this just to prepare for me. Too bad it was worse than useless.

The blood hulks were split up and assaulted the two gates. Their orders were simple. Break through and then keep anyone from escaping. The rest of us rode on the back of the zombie wyverns.

Both Bella and Usk had taken control of them for this part. While everyone else focused on raining down spells and in Kethra's case darts on the orcs below Geth was busy animating the bodies. He didn't even give them any orders beyond attack.

As the number of zombies grew beyond what he could control, he just released them. It exhausted Geth, but soon enough there were far more dead than living inside the compound. The survivors were all inside the tower, which all seemed to be kobolds.

Too low to hit any of us with their bows the kobold had been switched to barrages of twisting lightning bolts that I recognized. More grell work. The lightning had tore through the packed zombies and even injured the blood hulks. Luckily they had soon run out and were reduced to using arrows again.

The tower itself was a work of seamless stone with a massive reinforced door. I have no doubt that it marked the entrance to the dragon's lair.

My suspicions were confirmed when the doors were pushed open by a pair of trolls. The trolls were much thicker than normal, scaled and had spikes jutting out from their joints. More half dragons.

I hear a bestial roar coming from within the tower and Geth sends all of his zombies swarming in. The rest are moving as well, drawn to the living creatures nearby. When I can hear the dragon approaching I signal Usk.

His wyvern dived down in time to meet an enormous cloud of smoke. Not good. I hear the bone breaking crunch as the wyvern slams into the ground. It missed. Not that I blame Usk. None of us can see anything down there.

We circle around trying to spot the dragon as the cloud of smoke spreads out to cover the entire courtyard. Only the walls keep it from spreading further. Definitely not how I thought this fight would go.

I start casting a number of spells on myself. Kethra steers her wyvern lower, trying to peer through the billowing smoke. Suddenly it surges and for a moment we see the dragon just before it's latches onto the wyvern and drags it down.

Bella had wasted no time casting Missile Storm. She's pretty happy until the first missile strikes and pops like a soap bubble. And then the smoke covers everything again.

Damn it. Not good. Spell resistance is going to be a real pain now. Before I figured we'd just keep casting until enough spells went through. Now that's not an option.

I keep thinking even as I keep casting every buff I can think of on myself. They might be the only thing that saves me.

When I hear a cry of pain from Usk I realize it's time to act. I take a moment to remind myself that Kiss of the Vampire can't be negated and then reach out. I concentrate on a source of blood that specifically doesn't resonate with any of the vials I wear around my neck. As soon as I sense one I blood walk.

I tear my way out of a large figure that I realize too late is one of the trolls. I forgot they were still there. Worse I had already forced open my blood link to command it. It worked, causing the blood to grow long needle-like spikes throughout it's body, but the song was dimmer now. The link strained as if I had been partially deafened.

At least the troll was dead. The Bloodwell spell I was holding ripping out a pint of blood from every puncture wound.

I tried to sense the dragon when the other troll swiped at me. I ignored it, trusting my damage reduction when I felt an enormous amount of pain. Each of it's taloned hands had dug deep inside me and promptly tore my side open.

That wasn't supposed to be possible. The sheer amount of damage required to even scratch me was fairly high. He practically ignored my damage reduction!

I flicked a Ray of Enfeeblement and staggered when he almost tore me in half. His claws were dealing an enormous amount of damage. I grab onto his hand, dug deep inside me, and cast Bestow Curse.

With his strength reduced to a 1 his own armor causes him to collapse. I hope he survives. I definitely want to study him later.

I'm struck from behind with terrific force and despite being undead black out for an instant from the pain.

I realize I'm pinned down by an enormous claw and realize the dragon is standing on top of me.

"Fools. You have made your way here only to find death."

Heh. Gloating. Gotta love monologues.

I shift into mist and flow inside his mouth, materializing while holding onto his tongue. I can feel blessed life force draining from him and restoring my own. I'm really glad he doesn't have a breath weapon right now.

I'm too far back to push out with his tongue so he swallows me. Now who's the fool.

I don't waste any time, draining him as fast as I can. I can feel his life force draining, but there's just so much of it. There's a lurch and I realize he's flying.

I keep striking even as his stomach acids eat away my skin. There isn't any time to use a protection spell.

Finally he falters.

I keep striking. I need him to die by this point. He's much too dangerous.

He crashes, but I don't stop. He's still breathing, even if only shallowly. I only halt once I can feel he's dead. Then I flow out from him.

Looking around I can see Bella's wyvern following. He had covered almost a mile before falling. That was ridiculous.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Wizard 1 / Loremaster 4 / Blood Magus 10

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 2 / Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 2

Geth Ivy – Necromancer 1 / Pale Master 5 / Cleric 1 / True Necromancer 1

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 2 / Master Thrower 5

Usk Harpell – Swashbuckler 3 / Sorceror 2 / Spellsword 2 / Arcane Duelist 3

Huron Gosstal – Scout 4 / Beastmaster 2 (3 Seeing Eye dogs)

Throd – Ranger 4 (Cerberus)


	7. Into the Woods

Chapter 6 Into the Woods

Cleaning up after the battle was almost as bad as the fight itself. The dragon had torn apart most of the blood hulks and wyvern zombies. Worse, he had managed to kill Usk as well.

It was his loss that hurt us the most. It made us cautious. We were already tired and drained. Two of us were even low on spells. Thank Mystra Bella and Kethra were there.

They did most of the fighting. Since I still had most of the protective spells up I helped, but since I didn't want to use any giant area spells I couldn't do much.

Truthfully the blood hulk seemed to be more effective than I was. Although I did have Reverse Arrows on. And since the kobold were mostly using bows I didn't feel completely useless. Apparently they had used up all the charges for their grell weapons earlier.

Kobolds weren't the only thing we faced. Dire weasels, which I'm still not sure why kobolds like them so much, and gargoyles were also common. Luckily there weren't any more half dragon trolls. The only trolls we did find were the common ones, hung up on racks, still alive.

It wasn't until we got to the back that we found more of the half dragon trolls. They were young and being taken care of by their mother, who wasn't a half dragon. There were also a few pregnant kobolds and orcs.

It seems I attacked just in time. He looks to have been gearing up for a full scale war. Which worries me a bit. I don't remember anything like this. I really hope its due to butterflies and not something like Ao scaling the world in response to me.

All of them were in cages too. The dragon apparently wasn't one for family. We imprisoned the troll I captured in a cage alongside the others.

I didn't even bother looking at the loot. As soon as the tower was cleared I found a secure room and collapsed into reverie.

Of course an hour later I was up again thanks to my ring of sustenance. By far one of the very best low level magic items ever invented.

Not much had changed in that short time. The undead were keeping guard and the prisoners were all still secured. The one major change was that the others had managed to thoroughly strip the tower of everything of value and gather it together. Geth had even walked Bella through creating a necrocraft wagon to haul it away.

Speaking of bodies, there were a few in particular I was interested in. The fang dragon had managed to kill all of the blood hulks. It seems only fitting that it take their place. Fortunately I had the fabricate spell so butchering it only took an instant.

The second body was that of Usk.

I must confess I wasn't as broken up about Usk as I should have been. Part of it was the fact that I had a piece of him under Gentle Repose so I can clone him. The rest and majority was because I had an idea. A horrible, possibly brilliant idea.

I animated Usk as a dread warrior.

My reasoning seemed sound. If it worked instead of a normal army I could create something closer in par to the one that Shadovar possess. Hundreds of mid-level casters was a terrifying force. If it worked I might even take a level of fighter myself and just create dread versions of myself.

Sadly it didn't. It seems a dread warrior just doesn't possess that spark of magic that's required to tap into the Weave. Usk the dread warrior was just a slightly tougher than normal dread given what abilities he retained.

Disappointing. And while I had cast Clone on the piece I had it would be months before it finished growing. Normally I wouldn't mind waiting, but I really wanted to wipe out this group. We also had extremely valuable information that would expire soon.

Looks like we'll have to continue without him.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Despite wanting to get started right away we first go back to Longsaddle. I need to drop of the growing clone as well as all of my captives.

We also needed to stock up on undead sword fodder to use in our campaign. I made sure we all took as many undead as we could manage. And that wasn't all.

My revelation of being able to use the clone spell made the other Harpells even more reckless. I was gifted a cabinet enchanted with Gentle Repose and samples from most of the family members. Also Harkle decided to accompany us since Usk was still 'recovering'.

At least I persuaded Regweld from coming with us. To assuage his guilt I had him agree to gift both Huron and Throd more Cerberi pups. Sure they were a bit more difficult to train, but the final results were worth the hassle.

The information we found revealed the Smoke Dragon had bred, trained and sent out a number of half-dragon kobold sorcerors. Each one was instructed to create a group of it's own. He gave each of them some limited support, mainly in the form of magical items.

The number of magical items and even more schematics and notes that were found indicated he crafted specific magic items for each kobold. It was incredibly valuable to me, since they included dozens of new recipes. Almost as valuable were the crafting supplies that were stockpiled, including an entire chest of focal stones.

Magic items recipes weren't the only important piece of information we found. We also found a map along with reports from each of his children.

With that information in hand we had charted a route to sweep through the area and wipe out each group as quickly and efficiently as possible. I wanted no chance of them to realize they were vulnerable and possible escape.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Ironically the first group came to us. We were traveling down the road disguised as just another caravan. The wagons were huge flimsy things, each packed with the undead we brought. Each of the four wagons was being hauled by a pair of blood hulks.

There were a dozen skeleton archers keeping watch. Suitably armored and disguised of course. We even had an entire pack of trained dogs. Shame that none of that worked.

Our only warning was suddenly falling deaf. We all tensed, but were still caught by surpise when a pack of digesters appear out of thin air and start spraying everyone down with acid. The dogs were targeted first we could see them yelping but there was still no sound.

The silence, which I finally recognized, caused me to fumble my spell. Bella, who could probably incant magic missiles in her sleep, had no such problem. Annoying enough neither did Harkle, although his decision to only use Burning Hands disappointed me.

I could see nearly a dozen kobolds mounted on axe beaks pop out of the grass. They started off a fair distance, but were rapidly closing. A widened fireball brought four of them down. The rest spread out, which should slow them a bit.

I was about to cast another spell when I was stabbed in the back. I staggered forward a step from the impact and turned to see a bugbear grinning down at me. I caught another shimmer into view as he stabbed Bella before I lost my temper.

I reached out to my link and commanded my dragon to act.

The wagon I had been standing on exploded as the dragon tore its way free. It lashed out and easily tore the bugbear in half. A massive cloud of smoke swallowed me and I ordered the dragon to curl up around me.

I was pretty much useless in the smoke. It was just warm enough to render infravision useless. Still, it was probably a good thing Kethra had done that. With everyone but her blinded she'd be able to hunt down all the enemies.

I'm really glad I gave her the smoke shroud we looted from the dragon. It was several very long minutes later that the smoke finally cleared.

The sight was pretty intimidating. All around us were the bodies of our enemies. Digesters, kobolds, axe beaks, bugbears, even a triceratops. That was entirely too close. I don't even want to think about how bad that could have gone without Kethra.

Best of all I don't see anyone from the attack missing. She had managed to kill everyone without letting any of them escape. Which means if we hurry we might be able to catch their base by surprise.

Patching up our wound with tomb spider venom has become routine by now. I don't even notice the slight numbness from it anymore. Although Harkle was fascinated by the entire process.

With an invisible hawk scouting ahead it didn't take long to locate them. It wasn't as if they were that well hidden. At least not from above.

The camp was more a series of paddocks built on the far side of Berun's Hill. Digesters and axebeaks were housed there, although it seems like they had used most of them against us. One very large fenced off field held a couple of very young triceratops.

The only building was a small barn was protected by a pair of troll skeletons. Instead of buildings there was a number of caves with crude doors in front.

Since the half dragon kobold had been found among the axe beak riders I wasn't too worried. I led the charge mounted on my dragon. An action that was almost pointless. Aside from a few undead there wasn't anything dangerous.

After looting the place we ended up freeing the animals and then leaving. I really wanted the keep the triceratops, but they were much too powerful for my shrinking spell to affect. An anticlimactic ending for such a scary start.

As we rode off I thought about the group setup. Now that I'm no longer in danger I can admire the sheer elegance of it. And it had me worried about the other bases.

While the wyverns hadn't been too bad, the actual smoke dragon had killed one of us. Worse this group had almost succeeded on doing to same. I'm going to need to be even more careful from now on.

And my dragon might actually be a good place to start. If I remember the Cult of the Dragon uses some kind of soul ritual to advance their dracoliches. Also the Thayans have their own ritual they use on gladiators.

It'd take a bit of work but I can probably merge the two to improve my dragon even more. Too bad I can't just clone the dragon and experiment. Living creatures are so much easier to modify.

Actually if Harkle ever becomes a warshaper he might be able to help as well. After all I do have Sculpt Corpse. Looks like I need to slot a Suggestion spell tomorrow.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Following the destruction of the group at Berun's Hill we headed directly east into the Neverwinter Woods. There were three more groups and I wanted to hit them in a particular order.

The first and closest was a dryad's grove of all things. The kobold, Greenclaw, had managed to forge an alliance with her. The notes weren't exactly clear what the alliance consisted of, but had been goood enough to merit a reward. The Onyx Staff details only let me know it likely involved a lot of undead.

The staff wasn't even that great. It acted as focus to negate up to 250 gold worth of onyx components as well as a less metamagic rod of fell animation. The Saboteur's Staff I got from the ambush was much better. It held 10 charges which renewed every day. They could be spent to cast Pass Without Trace, Invisibility Sphere or Silence.

Obviously I was already using it. Well Huron was. Still, I was determined to wipe out every trace of the group. Which sadly meant abandoning the wagons.

So what looked like a small army marched into the forest. Tymora must really love me since the dryad's grove was actually named and it was included in the notes. And it just so happened that it was the very next day I realized I had advanced enough to gain Find the Path from Loremaster.

The drawback of using Find the Path is that it doesn't give you any warning when you're close. So we pretty much blindly rode through the woods. I had my familiar Horus looking around, but with how dense the woods are I don't expect much.

My beloved mount on the other hand, being seven age categories old, had a blindsense range of over 200 feet. Coupled with the pack of trained guard dogs and I feel safe enough.

Hopefully.

I admit I couldn't completely relax. The ambush earlier still has me a bit spooked and twitchy. It's a bit ironic, but even though I'm an elf I feel trapped in the woods. It doesn't help that there's also a feeling of constantly being watched.

The ambush was almost a relief.

Of course it didn't catch us by surprise. Not with my mount. The first sign was when it gave a low growl. Reflexively I sent out a homunculus. This wasn't the first time we had just spooked a large animal. Sometimes I wish my skeleton was smarted.

Then the dogs started barking. All of them. That's not good. It means we're surrounded. How the hell did that happen?

At that point my homunculus caught sight of what was surrounding us.

I immediately barked out orders. "Everyone form up around me. Defensive positions!"

Then I cast Wall of Fire. As the massive ring of flames surrounded us I took a closer look at the enemies. Before I had just seen a horde of trolls. More details shows they weren't alive.

Zombies. But not normal ones either. Zombies have gray skin. These have a yellow cast like a fading bruise. I don't know anything that color. Great.

At least they're vulnerable to fire. Even as the heat from my wall scorches the vegetation the closest zombies catch fire. They don't seem to mind, marching fearlessly through the fire. Worse they survive long enough to make it through.

Kethra, opens up with a flurry of darts even as I order my mount forward. I'm glad to see at least the burns aren't healing. "Switch to fire if you can!"

Really glad Bella is a missile mage. She easily altered all of her magic missile spells with a touch of fire. The others weren't so lucky. No one else had any fire abilities. Something to fix if we survive.

They were doing their best, pushing bodies into my fire wall, but we were getting overwhelmed. Worse Geth only had two fireballs and then had unleashed a wave of negative energy. Which healed them.

So they _were_ undead.

How the hell are they controlling so many? Even together my group couldn't handle this many zombies. Let along whatever these are.

Doesn't matter. Right now we need to retreat. Obviously we aren't going to be able to kill them all. "Retreat!"

It was a nightmare. I have to drop the wall of fire so we don't get burned. The creatures all charge immediately. What was a trickle now becomes a flood.

We leave behind the blood hulks. They won't be able to keep up and may even buy us some time. They almost immediately vanish, buried under a sea of bodies.

They don't stop either. They follow us. Clearly they can think if they can track. Fortunately they stop fairly quickly. It's eerie to see them all simultaneously stop and turn around. This situation just keeps getting worse.

I want to turn back and attack them. Maybe see if it's possible to kite them and whittle their numbers down further. We can't though. We can't afford to try. We're all exhausted.

They won this round. It's a bitter thought.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

We head back the next morning. We sacrificed the few surviving skeleton archers to heal us up. Depending on just how quickly they can create those things there could be even more than before. Not a pleasant thought.

We're as prepared as possible. Everyone who can is loaded up with fire spells. We also have a much better idea where they're located.

We go in slowly and cautiously. Paranoid.

My familiar and homunculi are invisible and keep watch. They're positioned almost a quarter mile out, at the edge of the range of our link. We need to find out where they're coming from. I keep my senses linked to theirs.

When I finally see the creatures there is only a small cluster of them. They're still the same though. Odd yellow grey trolls. They're standing guard around a briar patch. In the middle was an odd looking cross between a vine and a shrub. It was vividly green and despite how dry everything else was, looked damp.

It was also sprouting several flowers which seemed to be emitting a cloud of pollen. Yellow flowers with yellow pollen. Almost the same shade of yellow as the creatures guarding it.

Crap. I know part of what's happening now. That's a Yellow Creeper. It makes fake plant zombies. No wonder they still had their regeneration. So that partially explains what's going on.

I think they detected us. Some of the briars pull back and I can see a staircase that looks like it was carved from pure smokey quartz crystal. Marching out were more of the fake zombies. Enormous numbers of them.

I send in a homunculus. We still have time before they reach us although my hand does signal 'incoming' to the rest of my party.

The area was pretty bare. Mostly a massive cavern filled with more of the creatures. It was divided into levels just tall enough for a troll to walk and used ramps to connect them.

There were only two doors, both on the very bottom. One led to a tunnel. More of the creatures were marching down it. Reinforcements.

The second was what I was looking for. A troll, living and manacled. Two actual zombies were slowly harvesting it for parts. I suspected, but it's good to confirm where all the bodies were coming from.

A tap on my shoulder has me disconnect my senses. Showtime.

As planned I cast a widened Wall of Fire. An enormous ring that will make it easier to set up our trap. Once it was up Harkle cast a second one inside mine. Then we started to bombard them with every fire spell we could cast.

The assault ends after only a few minutes, the majority of our spells exhausted. It didn't look like we had made any dent in their numbers. That was fine, we weren't there to win today.

As we retreat Harkle and I bombarded our trail with fireballs. Both to kill pursuers and blast a much clearer path for tomorrow. Not that we would. Our enemy was clearly intelligent. No doubt they expected us to wait for reinforcements yesterday. They are unlikely to repeat that mistake.

No. The next day we use the Sabateur's Staff to sneak close. Slowly, over the course of several hours my invisible homunculi search the place.

The underground complex is huge. It's also simple. There's a large central cavern. From it there are several tunnels that lead to their own caverns. Each branch had a troll and a yellow creeper bush. While I haven't seen it, I'm betting the dryad's tree is near the central cavern.

There are currently only three branches, but it looks like they were planning on eight. My presence seems to have halted everything for now.

I almost feel guilty as how easy it is to sneak around and spy on them. Even if it does finally answer the question of just who they're controlling so many zombies.

They aren't. They're controlling the plants. The seed pods are being turned into undead. They puppet the still mostly living body. It's ingenious. And not something I can copy. Without the dryad to command the yellow creeper bushes the seed pods can't be controlled.

At least I don't have to worry about others duplicating this trick.

Now that I understand what's happening I give new orders. The ambush we had originally planned was pretty much useless. The plant zombies were easily replaceable and pretty much infinite. Instead I want to decapitate the group.

Everyone hops into my bag of holding and I blood walk over to the kobold. Tearing my free and animating his blood was more than enough to kill him. I quickly empty the bag and we all start casting even as the zombies charge.

I had picked my spot well and we easily wiped out the guards. We then blasted the roof of the cavern. A few minutes later the ceiling, along with the dryad's tree, crashed down. I immediately fireballed the tree. When I heard the dryad screaming I considered

A dozen or so humanoid figures scrabbled out of the flames. As they moving roots and other plants sprouted up around them. Even as the fire charred their bark-like skin they reached out. When they touched the tree wooden vines grew around it, encasing it in living armor.

Well we can't have that now. They were so single minded to save the dryad none of them had even tried to find me. I signaled the rest of my party and we all let loose a fireball. After that I wish I had some marshmallows to roast in celebration of our victory.

Although that turned out to be premature. It took almost a week but we made sure to root out every single yellow creeper bush we could find. We also make sure the thoroughly burn every plant zombie that was made. I was determined to wipe out all knowledge of this technique.

Studying the plant zombies later on had left me feeling unclean. When close enough I realize I can feel their blood. But the song is thick and sluggish, almost muffled. It felt wrong. That kobold was an abomination to have invented such them.

At least we got several bags of powdered grell crystal. It was what they had been using to create their underground complex. Analyzing it should make it a lot easier to learn grell alchemy.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Annoyingly the next target was also in the Neverwinter Woods. I'm really beginning to get sick of trees.

The feeling of being watched hasn't stopped either. In fact even though I wiped out a thoroughly unnatural threat its been tinged with a feeling of stern disapproval. The fire spells probably didn't help my case.

We weren't taking any chances this time. We stayed under the effects of Invisibility Sphere the entire time. It helped that we could all ride on top of my dragon.

We actually didn't run into any enemies on the way. Likely from the dragon. So we didn't realize we had reached the group my familiar spotted the castle.

It was surprisingly well defended for such a remote place. A large curtain wall stood a dozen feet high. Heavy stone gates protected by a pair of watch towers were placed in the middle of each side. And everything made from the same smokey quartz the grell use.

The only thing that was made from normal stone was the keep. And that was an ugly thing. Squat and uneven. It looked like someone had decided to build a bunch of towers right next to each other and then afterwards decide to connect them all.

Of course the keep was only stone for the first two stories. The third was made from more of the crystal. It looked like it held a mews since I could see several hawks flying around it. Overall it gave a very traditionally medieval feel. At least if you ignored the crystal and inhabitants.

Goblins were manning the towers and easily spotted us, but none of them moved to attack. They all seemed to be armed with silver tubes that I recognized. More lightning lances. At least the patrols, mounted on worgs, didn't seem to have them.

It took a bit to realize why and I barely kept from laughing. They didn't see us. They just see a giant heavily armored skeletal dragon walking by.

I'm tempted to mess with them, but I really want out of these woods. So I cast a Protection from Elements as well as a few other buffs on the dragon. Then I have the dragon charge the castle.

The goblins predictably panic and retreat. They don't make it far. Bella and Kethra become invisible as they cut them down.

When the dragon smashes through the gate I wasn't too impressed. The courtyard was huge, but horribly overgrown. It….my train of thought dies as I see most of it start moving. That's not good.

As the movement becomes more pronounced I can see they're plant creatures. At least this time I recognized them. Twig Blights. Small twisted humanoid shrubs that feed on blood.

Then a grove of saplings start moving. They're too small to be treants...

I duck and roll off my dragon as a cloud of long thorns passes through where I had been sitting.

Of course they're needlefolk. And of course I'm an elf. And since they have that bullshit ability to find elves my invisibility doesn't matter.

At least they burn easily enough. After fireballing them I keep at it. Might as well burn everything. After the last place I really don't like plant monsters of any kind. Even the ones that understand blood is awesome.

I feel vindicated with my decision when some of the twig blights start throwing their own showers of thorns.

I notice it's pretty much me and Harkle fighting everything so I look over. Kethra was bleeding heavily from a number of cuts. Bella was doing her best to shield her, but it wasn't working very well. The bodies of a few hawks were around them, but even more were in the air. Even as I watched almost a dozen went into dives.

Several that struck Bella didn't do anything, instead shimmering oddly before flying off. The rest struck Kethra despite their best efforts. Almost automatically Bella uses the Staff of Health to stop the bleeding.

Several hawks were on the ground, but not nearly enough. I was missing something. Suddenly most of the hawks faded away and a group of ten flew up to join them.

It was a spell!

From the bleeding Kethra had been under a wounding effect. Only magical healing would stop it. I have no doubt Bella had saved her life.

I take the time to cast Kiss of the Vampire before blood walking to the window I saw the hawks fly out from. Sadly I didn't get the kobold. My exit instead tore apart a goblin in the room.

Still, the kobold was right in front of me. I didn't even mind when he conjured a group of hawks and set them on me. It just meant he didn't try to run.

I reached out and crushed the spark of life inside him. As he fell the hawks all faded away. Convenient. Just as convenient was the fact draining life force counts as magical healing.

Once healed a new sound drew my attention. A beautiful sound. I called to me. Even as the battle raged behind me I followed the sound. I stop at the only wooden door I've seen in this place. The sound is coming from the other side.

I felt a spark of worry it might be a Harpy or Siren so cast Silence. No, I still hear it. I can also stop and cast. So this is natural. Probably.

When I open the door I freeze. The sound washes over me. I recognize it now.

Blood.

A waterfall of blood pours down the center of the hollow tower. Looking down I can see it filling a pool surrounded by truly enormous twig blights. A narrow staircase wraps along the walls. I go up.

The room at the top is interesting. Racks of trolls arranged in black chains that radiate magic. Each one with wounds that don't close, continuously pouring out blood. The floor is sloped like a funnel.

I wonder if the kobold was a blood magus. There isn't any practical reason for the setup. If he could hear it like I do though... Reason enough.

I feel bad about killing the trolls, but I can always make my own. It's the chains I'm interested in. Sustenance, pain and host of other enchantments are layered into them. Including the staff the kobold here was equipped much better than any of the others.

I saw my group still fighting so I picked up the staff and triggered it. Seeing the hawks turning on them, they broke. Not that they made it far without worg mounts. They had a better sense of when they're outmatched and long since ran.

After once more using blood walk to deposit our loot we left. At last we were leaving these blasted woods!

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 6 / Blood Magus 10

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 1 / Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 4

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 7 / Cleric 1 / True Necromancer 1

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 3 / Master Thrower 5

Huron Gosstal – Scout 4 / Beastmaster 3 (3 Seeing Eye dogs)

Throd – Ranger 4 / Beastmaster 1 (3 Cerberi)

Harkle Harpell – Wizard 7

(A/N): I know Find the Path doesn't appear in the Loremaster PrC. My character on the other hand is working with information that he hasn't been able to refresh for 14 years. All I remember is I gain divination/information powers. And of course the world is infinitely more complex and flexible than any game rules can ever account for.


	8. Stronghold

Chapter 7 Stronghold

We marched out of the Neverwinter Woods loaded for bear. Or would that be owlbear? Especially considering just how many I spotted. Not that they bothered us. Even as violent as they are, the sheer size of my party would be enough to intimidate, not to mention my mount.

Using the trolls we had created as many large sized blood hulks as we could manage. Between all of us we ended up with eight of them. Besides my ever present dragon we also managed to animate all of the goblin skeletons, which gave us almost thirty archers.

I wasn't satisfied with just that though. So I had us take another day off so I could use the trolls to create a number of mummies. We all memorized Command Undead spells and now we had a dozen of them as well. They would eventually break free, but since they were intended to be shock troops it shouldn't matter.

Since the last group was in the open there was little point in attempting to hide. We were going to just all out assault it. Of course it was also the oldest and largest group.

Based on the ruins of old Phandalin, the kobold who led the group had managed to unite several factions under him. The most numerous was a tribe of hobgoblins.

The second group was a pack of grell. Not sure how he met them since they rarely go above ground. Also not sure how he managed to get them to talk to him. It was because of them that there were all those lightning lances floating around. No doubt they would be abundant there.

It was the last group that worried me the most. Somehow he had managed to ally with an insane cannibalistic behir. At least I hope so. Because the other possibility is he enslaved a group of behirs and that's just terrifying.

Guided by Find the Path we march out of the woods almost directly on top of Phandalin. I admit if I didn't know better I'd think it was just a magical village like Longsaddle.

Low crystal walls enclosed herds of various farm animals. Patches of vegetables were being grown in orderly rows. It was in remarkably good condition considering it was supposed to be a ruin.

Of course there were signs that revealed it wasn't just another town and closer to a fortress. Things like the fact that there are barracks, but no houses. That while the wall may be low, they are paired with a large moat that looked like it was filled with briars. And finally the numerous watch towers with siege engines on top of them. Which I discovered the hard way when a ballista fired at us.

Of course I couldn't just let them bombard us. With a word I shifted myself and the blood hulks inside the town, well past the walls and moat. I flicked my wrist and emptied my bag of holding to drop off all twelve of the mummies as well.

I was still invisible so I took the time to cast Dimenional Jaunt before shifting to a barracks roof. There I let out the rest of my party from another bag of holding. We took a moment to watch the undead start rampaging before splitting up.

Kethra activated her smoke shroud and went off on her own. Huron and Throd, under the effects of a Fogsight spell, followed her. With their blindsight the dogs wouldn't be hampered too much by the smoke.

Geth stayed behind to keep watch over the undead as well as bolster their ranks occasionally. He was already casting the various ritual boosting spells on himself.

Bella and Harkle went off to take care of the watch towers. If they managed to turn them around to face us it wouldn't be pretty. Just in case they had too much trouble Harkle was now carrying the Hawk's staff.

And I went off hunting the head. Somewhere in the town was the kobold who had put all this together. Even if we destroy everything else, if he escapes he could just set up elsewhere.

The obvious place to start was the keep. It looks like it used to be a manor, but had since then been heavily fortified. From what I remember it had underground levels along with caves. Or at least it did after I had taken it over in the game I played.

Since the grell were most likely to be at the manor I had used the staff to place a Neutralize Poison on myself. I also was using Gaseous Form despite being invisible. I had played a grell once and I still remember how powerful their blindsight is. I doubt mist has a nervous system to notice though.

The gaseous form has also useful for slipping through doors. As I head deeper into the keep I noticed a distinct lack of panic despite the situation. Instead runners were hurrying along and from the sounds of it already starting to get organized.

Well, we can't have that now? Sure I trusted them, but there's no need to take risks.

I follow the runners to a large room with an overhead layout of the town. Several hobgoblins with colored sashes were discussing tactics. My fireball caught them all by surprise. Before they could react I shifted into the middle of them and set off a Fire Burst.

It was a shame to lose my gaseous form, but the opportunity had been too good to pass up. And just for fun I cast Animate Dead as I left. I cheerfully whistled as I resumed my search.

I can see why the Simbul acts the way she does now. Wiping out mooks is addicting. You get the rush of casting, the thrill be defeating an enemy and then you can even pat yourself on the back that you beat the bad guys.

The basement was small and cramped. Tiny rooms and everything fairly normal aside from all the rooms being used to store supplies. It wasn't until I reached the middle of the mini-dungeon that I found what I was looking for.

A large crevasse ran along the length of the large central chamber. It was about sixty feet long but ran much deeper. It also led into the Underdark.

Apparently the grell colony wasn't housed in Phandalin. They're under it. Explains how the kobold managed to contact them. Worse it seems they really are working together.

Off to the side I can see additional sections of the dungeon and it's clear that the grell are being actively bred here. Small crystal cages are set along the walls in some of the rooms like some kind of horrific pet store.

Grell weren't the only things being raised there. Carrion crawlers, otyughs and shocker lizards were also present. However, besides a few undead, they were the only being who weren't penned or caged.

The adult grell don't pay any attention and only seem to make use of a few rooms. Aside from the various crafting tools and supplies it's like they don't care about their young at all.

I was disappointed the kobold wasn't here, but wasn't about to just leave. Grell aren't very tough. A few fireballs wipe out every adult present. And just in case I summoned an earth elemental to collapse all the entrances to the Underdark.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised where I found the kobold. In hindsight it seems obvious he'd be in the fancy master bedroom. I almost physically ran into him as he left the room hauling a sack full of stuff. He was so startled he didn't react until after I had cast. And then it was too late.

Very anticlimatic.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Finishing off the rest of the base was just as big a let down.

When I looked out through a window I could see over half of the town covered in smoke. Whether from Kethra or the various burning buildings I have no idea. The hobgoblins didn't even manage to wipe out our initial wave of undead.

Not that Geth would have made that easy. I can easily see his handiwork. He must have memorized a dozen animate dead spells to make that many zombies.

None of the enemies lived up to my expectations. The hobgoblins were entertaining, but mooks. The grell were just pathetic. The behir were the biggest disappointment.

Rather than an epic fight between forty feet dragons I find a pen. A small pen. And inside were a dozen tiny behir. Maybe eight feet long for the largest.

And they weren't bright either. As soon as I appeared they begged for food. It seems they really did have a behir farm. Of course nothing explains how on earth they managed to find halruaan behirs.

I was kind of regretting my approach now. Too late I had remembered a tidbit from the adventure there's supposed to be some kind of super workshop to make magic items nearby. This town would have been perfect as a forward base to protect the complex. Now fixing it up was going to be a major pain.

In the end I don't try. It remains largely abandoned originally so there is little chance for explorers or settlers for now. Instead I set up additional defenses. I raised the walls and blocked the gates in order to keep all of the undead trapped inside the town.

While working I found out the moat wasn't full of thorn bushes. It was full of needle blights, which is what I had taken to calling the cross between needlefolk and twig blights. A much more practical blood extraction setup kept them all fed and happy.

The last thing I did was place a few permanent unseen servants to take care of the behirs and other creatures. It won't be perfect, but it'll buy me time until I officially move here.

And then of course I was eventually going to figure out what to do with the grell hatchlings. They're practically feral now, but they get smarter. They'll escape if I delay too long. On the other hand I don't want to waste a potential resource.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

It was the grell who actually inspired my next quest. Well I say quest but it was more of a search. They use a nonstandard form of magic. Who's to say there isn't others out there? I already know about Wu jen from Kara Tur and that was originally listed in Oriental Adventures.

It wasn't difficult. Once I purchased a decent set of maps I just used invisibility and blood walk. Quietly pop up next to someone and just casually stroll away.

Bella and Kethra accompanied me. They were excited to visit new places. For all their experience and power I sometimes forget they're still fourteen year old girls. Well fifteen in Kethra's case.

Geth stayed behind to further his studies. Finding out Bella can control almost as many undead as he can despite not specializing in it has given him a real goal. Somehow I doubt he'll be able to do much, but I wish him luck. And in the meantime he is also helping Huron and Throd manage my compounds.

I had honestly been impressed by them. While they weren't personally powerful they filled a similar role as Geth, albeit one geared more towards guards then sword fodder. I already had ideas on how I could increase their offensive abilities as well.

Ironically it was in Silverymoon, our first stop, that I found what I was looking for. Duskblade is an actual class here, with a number of fairly well known practitioners. Even better they're all sun elves.

Well, it'd be good if I wanted training. Sadly, like bladesingers, none of them took non-elf students. Of course there are ways around that. With my innate understanding of blood I don't need a piece of flesh for the clone spell. A drop of blood will work for me just as well.

Of course I don't want to be a criminal so a bit of misdirection is called for here. Thankfully there was always criminals no matter now nice they city. A few charms and suggestion spells and they easily agreed to try and rob one of the duskblades.

The plan went off without a hitch. The thugs, under the cover of invisibility spheres, surrounded the target. Of course a duskblade is not an easy opponent. He mowed through them.

And in the middle of the fight I made my move. A blood infused Larloch's Minor Drain stole not only a piece of his life force, but a bit of his blood. Focusing on my ability to manipulate blood I managed to draw it into a vial I prepared beforehand.

I was invisible the entire time, far enough back See Invisibility wouldn't penetrate it. I used an illusion as a decoy and had it cast a few other spells which were easily dodged. I then had the illusion fade away like it was teleporting.

And that was it. I had used illusions and disguises heavily. If they captured any of the survivors, which is likely, they would all have the same story. A heavily disguised wizard had hired them all. Between the evidence I left behind I have no doubt they'll suspect Thay. From the hint of a thayan accent I added and the Alter Self to create a tattooed bald head I let them 'accidentally' catch glimpses of it would be hard not too. And if it really does cause problems for Thay, well it's not like they don't deserve it.

With the blood I quickly cast a Clone spell and set another of my personal alarm spells. No point going through all of that just to have the clone go insane.

There was plenty of time before the spell finished so I decided not to cut the trip short. The girls didn't like getting inside a bag of holding, even for only a minute, but wanted to be left behind even less.

So we went on vacation, touring Silverymoon, Waterdeep, Neverwinter and a dozen other cities. I even added a visit to the Friendly Arms Inn. And the entire time I kept searching.

I found plenty of groups that were based on wizardry. Groups whose specialized training would give me access to a prestige class. But no new forms of magic.

Our vacation ended once the clones finally woke up. Ironically the duskblade clone actually woke up first. And once converted into a mummy I no longer had to worry about the hunting down the original problem.

Geth, using the selection of curses I had used on the trolls, easily was able to maintain control of the mummy. Even more impressive though was that he had actually found a method of increasing the number of undead he could control.

It wasn't enormous and it seemed to be limited to basic skeletons, but he still managed it. My best guess was that he had managed some kind of leadership feat since he didn't have a link to the extra undead he could control.

Seeing Geth making so much progress, inspired me to once more create personal mummies. I went for the maximum, which since I refused to let my dragon go, was six.

I already had ideas for what I wanted along with a tentative schedule for what to have them make first. Once more my personal magic item factory will live!

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Of course I wasn't about to just sit around for months while waiting for them to grow. So I busied myself with trying to improve my party. Usk was busy retraining as a duskblade, but the rest of us just needed experience and gear.

Outfitting my group with better gear proved frustrating. Outside of minor magical items almost everything had to be personally commissioned. It seems either the Thayan enclaves or Mystra's reworking of the Weave had an enormous impact on the standardization and mass production of items.

More mundane goods of course were easy enough to come by. Not only is my store, Ivy Armory, doing well, so is my partnership with Gondyl over in Triboar. So I went that route.

Siege engineering was not a very sophisticated field. Given how powerful magic is I'm not surprised. Most of the siege engines I remember enough of to recreate are completely unknown here. And of course magic gives me even more options.

I worked closely with what I had taken to calling the Ivy Grove Crafthall. After all, they weren't just orphans anymore. I had talked it over with them and they had all agreed to move to where ever I ended up setting up my base. They already had plans for adopting more orphans eventually.

Our work yielded a truly beautiful piece of engineering. It was essentially a scaled down ballista on a turret mount. Even though it was only seven feet long it was several times as powerful as normal ballistas. Improved Augment Object, Hardening and a few other spells saw to that.

It wasn't actually that impressive in comparison to even normal lightning bolt spells, but a significant step up compared to a normal crossbow. And resource wise, it would never be viable to sell. As an upgrade for Huron and Throd though it was perfect. A permanent Shrink Item spell allowed them to easily transport them.

Of course the siege engines weren't the only upgrade Huron and Throd received. While new magic items still had to wait they each replaced their current pack of dogs. Both of them were now working exclusively with Cerberi.

Kethra was pretty much perfectly set up to work alone now, but I had Bella working on several new variations of magic missile based on metamagic feats. Invisible missiles, short duration DoTs, entangling and other secondary effects.

I ran group training exercises, mock dungeons really, a few times. I really wanted to try Undermountain since it was one of my favorite adventures, but its just too dangerous. I still remember reading a novel where Halaster arbitrarily just kills half a party of adventurers because they're having too easy a run.

So I settled on working on my dragon.

It took much longer than I was comfortable with, but with Geth's aid I did eventually create a series of rituals to improve it. They weren't cheap, requiring mass living sacrifices, but they were more than worth it. Besides, it wasn't like I didn't have more than enough gnolls for now.

Obviously there were limits, but I was able to imbue instinctive programming along with slight physical augmentations. Or in game terms I gave it several feats including Improved Natural Weapon.

They also worked on other undead though. So I considered it well worth it. The blood hulks became infinitely more dangerous without the various penalties from wearing armor and using shields. The various bonuses from other feats along with their augmented fists also helped.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I really wished to do more, but too much of my time was preoccupied with a for more urgent matter. Moving.

While the Harpells ruled Longsaddle we weren't tyrants. I had several plans that required a lot more room and I couldn't just take it from ranchers. Well I could, but even I felt a bit guilty over my idea to unleash orcs on my own town.

Besides there's no need for that. There's plenty of room nearby for the taking. It's just a matter of holding on to it. So I moved over to Old Owl Well.

Originally I planned on taking Phandalin, but it just wasn't secure enough. Moving there would leave me to vulnerable. Old Owl Well, being set in the middle of massive flat area over 70 miles across without any water, was perfect.

It actually wasn't very hard. I would teleport down every day and spend an hour or so working on my new fortress. While I did cast a few spells, most of it was supervisory in nature.

One of the things I do on my off days was to memorize as many Monster Summon spells as possible and then cast them to see what appeared. After the Godswar Mystra standardizes what can be summoned. She also allows you to select what appears. For now though it's a hefty combination of luck and the area you cast the spell in. And Tymora likes me.

I don't encounter new creatures too often, but some of the things that have appeared I've never even heard of. In either life. Which is impressive considering I was played DnD for over a decade and the Harpells love exotic creatures.

One of the creatures I summoned fairly recently was a Delver. An odd slug-like creature with over-sized arms, it was special because the slime it secreted allowed it to mold stone like clay. I was tempted to wait, but impatience got the better of me.

Of course I might have waited if I knew the Limited Wish I cast would burn 8 years of my life force. At least the simulacrum worked. Within a week the initial base was finished. Within two I could have moved everything if I had wanted too.

I dragged out the moving process instead. Too abrupt a move would basically end up cutting ties with Longsaddle. I didn't want that. I had put too much effort into the town to just abandon it. So I now essentially had two bases.

Old Owl Well, and I really need to rename that, now housed all of my more dangerous experiments. The behir farm, which I was going to greatly expand. The gnoll packs. The trolls. Even the more dangerous animals.

Not to say that my claim was uncontested. The remnants of the orc tribe more than once attempted to reclaim what they viewed as theirs. And all of my construction drew the attention of others.

Which is why I ended up creating my moat. It doubtless will draw a lot of attention eventually, but it'll buy me to the time to finish my move and install more powerful defenses.

The moat is actually three concentric moats built flush against each other. None of them are filled with water either. The first is the most deceptive. It hides my other defenses as well as presents a visual obstacle, letting everyone know now to enter. It's a 100 yards of very tall grass marked by a waist high stone wall.

The grass was easy enough to set up. Just careful use of a Rod of Wonder. Best of all the grass is natural. No magic at all. So nothing to dispel. Just a dozen or so foot high wall of plain grass.

The moat isn't just grass. No it's twenty feet deep to disguise the actually over thirty foot grass. The sides are seamless stone as smooth as glass. And the bottom is filled with razor sharp stone spikes and undead snakes.

The snakes were my favorite part of the moat. Based off the largest constrictors I could find I then applied the half-dragon, warbeast and dungeon bred templates to it. Since I didn't want them killing the grass and to keep from having to constantly replace them they were all made into bloody skeletons.

The second moat was stolen from Phandalin. I had to use a lot of stone to keep the blood from spreading too far but I soon had a wide area inhabited by twig and needle blights. It was also ten feet deep mostly to keep the blights from spreading.

The third moat was by far the largest. I didn't do anything fancy, I just made sure the inside wall was a full quarter mile back. The inner wall was the only one that resembled an actual castle wall. It stood twenty feet high and had towers and arrowslits.

It as also unmanned. I planned to correct that eventually, but for now the wall was only protected by a small army of blood hulks and necrosis carnexes. It would take a full scale army to defeat them without high level magic and they provide me with a ready made squad of reinforcements whenever I need one.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Of course the over thirty miles of moats weren't made by just by me and a single delver. And the rest of my group was busy. So I recruited more members of my family. Normally I wouldn't want to separate my family any further, but the two members I recruited wouldn't be missed. Or possible even noticed if I hadn't told them.

When I was eight one of my cousins, Bidderdoo Harpell, turned himself into a wolf. No one was sure how he had done so since his lab had blown up at the same time. Sadly an all too common occurrence. I know the effect breaks during the Time of Troubles, but I wanted help. If I broke the effect he would owe me.

Several family members had attempted to either dispel the transformation or reverse it. The Time of Troubles shows he was too much a wolf for that to work. So I case a blood enhanced Reincarnate spell along with a Polymorph Any Object at him.

It didn't fix him. Instead I made him a new body. My blood ensured he didn't get too exotic a form, but he still ended up a half elf. He also ended up a natural werewolf. Or maybe a Lythari since he wasn't infectious.

Bidderdoo was incredibly grateful and didn't even require a Suggestion to dive into studying transmutation magic. Since Harkle had proved too flighty I was hoping to steer Bidderdoo into turning into my shape shifting party tank. The odds seemed favorable too since the fire soul ritual easily took root in him.

I had him living at Old Owl Well. It wasn't hard to convince him. A minor suggestion spell to emphasize why did no one else fix him. I'm by no means the most powerful Harpell mage yet. Someone else could have fixed him long before now.

Uncle Matherly had helped me set up the Ivy Dungeon. He was also always willing to speak to a precocious kid and budding mage. So when he turned himself into a stone statue that was just as permanent a transmutation as Bidderdoos I worked to get around it.

In the end I only partially succeeded. The same method I used on Bidderdoo failed. Whatever he did to himself was much harder to change. So I didn't. Using Stone Shape I incorporated some of the green comet metal that was found in the Starmetal Hills to our west. I then used the spells to imbue life into the statue.

Uncle Matherly didn't regain a flesh and blood form, but he did turn into a living statue made up of the green metal. He was weaker magically, but didn't mind. He was just grateful to be alive even if as a construct. He was just happy he didn't lose as many years as Bidderdoo had.

He gratitude meant he didn't mind at all working for me. So I placed him in charge of my now more modest holdings in Longsaddle. He would mainly be running my bathhouse and store.

His other duties would be to maintain the small underground breeding farm I left there. Not that he needs to do too much there. I drained several trolls to death setting up permanent unseen servants to largely automate the facilities.

Uncle Matherly had even persuaded me to open up the concept to the rest of the family. They had been excited over the possibilities and were already planning on creating their own versions. Hopefully one of them would figure out how to shrink rothe. And when the time comes I'm going to make sure at least a few of those farms are based around magic items instead of just wards.

And the final place he was keeping a watch on for me was the Ivy Grove Crafthall. I was going to move them, but right now my base wasn't secure and there was no actual exit.

He wouldn't be bored however. Uncle Matherly was still a Harpell and given his new status it seemed only fitting to let him study everything we had on grell alchemy.

Sadly those were the only two. While other Harpells had suffered accidents, they tended more towards sucked into hell or burned to ashes then transmutation. Still I know Bidderdoo eventually bred an entire pack of friendly werewolves. I had high hopes he would still be able to do so. Maybe even with my flinds so that I have them available quickly.

Of course that assumes Bidderdoo lives long enough. One of the first things Bidderdoo had done after moving down here was to get Regweld to alchemically apply the half dragon template to his wolf form. It worked, but he took a horrendous risk stacking an additional magical effect on top of everything else.

Sometimes I really sympathize with Adanac.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 6 / Blood Magus 10

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 1 / Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 7 / Cleric 1 / True Necromancer 3

Kethra Ivy – Rogue 1 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 4 / Master Thrower 5

Huron Gosstal – Scout 4 / Beastmaster 5 (3 Cerberi)

Throd – Ranger 4 / Beastmaster 3 (3 Cerberi)

Usk Harpell – Swashbuckler 2 / Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 4 / Arcane Duelist 3

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 8

Matherly Harpell – Illusionist 5 / Green Star Adept 10


	9. All In My Head

Chapter 8 All In My Head

So it turns out elves do actually have hormones. They just take a little longer to kick in. You can't really blame me for being caught by surprise. Elves physically mature at the same rate as a human. However they aren't considered an adult until around their first century.

Once I was thirteen and still hadn't started sexually maturing it figured it wouldn't happen until closer to the age when I was considered an adult. It was one of the reasons I had been ignoring the increasingly blatant flirting from Bella.

Kethra at least had moved on and was dating Huron.

Of course then I had to cast Limited Wish and age 8 years. It seems elves experience puberty only a few years later than humans. Which is how I ended up sleeping with Bella and then started dating her.

Not that I have anything against Bella. Physically she was almost perfect, other than her eye. Enough so that her nickname was beautiful Bella. After I had given her the eye patch everyone had been interested in her.

She only had eyes for me though. I even felt a bit guilty about that. Did my enchantments have a stronger affect then planned? Then Kethra moved on.

Personality wise she was also appealing. Although that seems obvious. Given how much time I spent on shaping her, of course I'd take the time to iron out any personality traits I found annoying.

I admit her attention was pleasant. But without the hormones there was no spark to drive a relationship forward. And as distracted as I get without that spark I'm liable to forget about spending time with her.

Not a problem I have anymore. Now I look for opportunities to spend time with her. Even if most of the time we just end up studying together. Still I'm using it as an opportunity to fine tune her spell list.

The latest project I have her working on is a spell the Simbul invented. The spell matrix allows a few spells to be stored and then later cast as quickened actions. It was perfect for Bella who relied so heavily on low level spells.

Not that Bella is the only person I work with. Geth and I recently finished a collaborative project that I was never going to tell anyone about. We had figured out how to create a new form of homunculi. An undead one.

The bone homunculus, as we called it, had no venom and was actually weaker than the original version. However it counted both as a construct and undead so it could be enhanced by the rituals Geth had invented. It also had two abilities in place of venom.

The first was an enhancement of the natural link. It allowed the caster to use the homunculus as a relay for ordering his own undead about. It only worked for undead that were permanently under the caster's control since it required the mental links.

The second was that the homunculus added half of it's hit dice, sadly rounded down, to the caster's for determining just how many undead can be controlled. It doesn't affect anything else, but it was still incredibly powerful.

Of course both Geth and I had immediately replaced our homunculi for the bone homunculi. Sadly the cost, 8500 gold, kept us from building more than two apiece. Which was still a bit extravagant, but well worth it.

Of course it wasn't until then I realized the mistake I had made. The mummies were all going to have to controlled with Command spells. There wasn't any reason to limit myself to only six. So I started another six clones. I actually made a lot more then that but I canceled all the clones that would take more than four months to finish.

Then I carefully inscribed blood runes all around them and filled them with bestow curse. If it worked, and there was no reason not to, they'd end up permanently unable to resist command spells.

The third and final person I worked with was Bidderdoo. Not only was he helping me set up my new base he was also my newest and least influenced recruit. I needed to keep careful watch over him.

Already he had deviated significantly from my plans. I doubt he'd ever become a master transmogrifist. However warshaper still seemed likely. And because of the way he had taken to alchemy and Regweld's work I had to plot out a new course for his development.

It actually wasn't too hard to find a new goal for Bidderdoo. It was something I had thought about looking into at some point when I had time. Handing it off to Bidderdoo works just was well.

Grafting is an incredibly resource intensive field of study however. Not only do I have to secure the knowledge on the various styles of grafting I have to secure the different materials each style requires. And of course almost every single one of them is primarily found in the Underdark.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

"So who wants to come with me to fight a city of mind flayers?" I had to laugh at he faces everyone made in response to my question. Incredulous doesn't even began to describe it.

"Are you insane?" and other variations of that statement bombard me. Only Geth doesn't act surprised.

"I presume you have a plan?" His voice, calm and steady, draws everyone's attention. I can always rely on Geth.

I explain almost everything. I only leave out why I checked for illithids under Triboar. I'm not about to tell them it was because of a game from my past life. Even for a Harpell that sounds sketchy.

"Of course I have a plan!" I try to sound offended. "Mind Blank and undead."

I see the moment everyone else understands. Mind Flayers are incredibly powerful due to their use of psionics. Mind Blank would protect us and undead won't be susceptible. It worked for Drizzt, it should work for me.

Now only the details need to be worked out.

It turns out no one wanted to be left behind. Obviously I can't take everyone. Right off the bat Huron and Throd were eiminated. They used dogs and I wouldn't be able to protect them. I don't even have enough Mind Blanks for all of us.

In the end I narrowed it down to myself, Bella because there was no way I was going to piss off my girlfriend, and Kethra.

Actually getting to the city was easy. I went invisible and turned into mist. I then blood walked downwards and spammed Locate Creature, targeting mind flayers. It took less than a day to find the city.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Yharaskrik was extremely satisfied and as close to happy as any illithid ever gets. His morning was going extremely well. Once again his gladiator had dominated the match he was in. The derro that was defeated had been particularly spicy.

He had been undisputed master of the arena ever since he had made it back from Thay with his prize. Many of the others were jealous of his success, but were still unwilling to attempt such a distant journey themselves. He didn't understand that. Life always came with some degree of risk. Was not a slight increase of it not worth the potential rewards? After all he was a living testament to the success of such a philosophy.

When the alarm went out he would never admit it, but he froze for a second in fear. He was one of the few survivors of Tellectus and knew how dangerous adventurers could be. Especially when they're prepared.

As Yharaskrik floated up to get a better view he was already ordering his slaves to start packing. The elder brain sent soothing thoughts, but with the alarm still ringing in his mind it was easily ignored. He was queried, like every other illithid, but didn't recognize them.

Not that there was much to see in the first place. One or more of them was shrouded in a dense cloud of smoke. It glowed hot enough to disrupt infravision, was thick enough to block conventional sight and somehow blocked psionic detection. They didn't even know how many of them there were.

They knew it wasn't just a random phenomenon though. Clouds of smoke, no matter how unique, don't leave behind bodies full of holes. It was also moving purposefully, avoiding large concentrations of slaves and efforts to contain it.

When the first being stepped out of the cloud Yharaskrik changed his mind. This was worse then adventurers. This was an invasion.

And whoever they were was clearly prepared. The being was squat and massive, standing nine feet high. It was also covered in heavy steel armor and carried a tower shield. It's other fist was covered in a large gauntlet that bristled with spikes. It also didn't have a psionic presence.

It stepped forward and with a ponderous movement punched through the skull of the ogre it was facing. Finally faced with a clear target the others sent their slaves in a massive wave, attempting to overwhelm it. From within the cloud a hail of glowing darts easily tore apart the charge.

Very well prepared.

Yharaskrik sighed. Any other city he joined who naturally demand to inspect his memories to make sure he wasn't a traitor. If he fled right now he most likely would be refused citizenship.

He hated to do so, but ordered his prized slave forward. Then he continued gathering his belongings. He mourned the loss of his most prized possession.

Out of curiosity he watched the charge. His slave slammed into the first armored being, the horns punching through both the shield and armor. He noticed it didn't seem to bleed. Maybe a construct then.

For a moment he hoped his slave might even win. At least against the first being. Then a slim woman in leather armor leapt of the the smoke. She landed on the shoulders of the armored being and leaned down and casually cut his slave's throat.

Well, so much for that. And even free of the smoke he couldn't feel her. It looks like his first guess was right. Adventurers. And since humans weren't immune to psionics, they clearly found a magical method of doing so. He needed to look into that.

Well, he made his token effort. Time to make his escape. He didn't glance back even when the shockwave from the death of the elder brain washed over him. Escape was definitely the right idea.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

In my past life a group as small as mine waging war against a city was ridiculous. An impossibility. Terrorize? Sure, but no one person could fight through hundreds of others despite what Hollywood showed.

Yet three of us had destroyed a city that easily numbered in the thousands. Of course most of those were slaves, but they still counted since they attempted to kill us.

Of course I wasn't in any position to enjoy our success. The death of the elder brain had a side effect I really should have anticipated. A while back I had established telepathic bonds with the other members of what I considered my party. The massive burst of psionic energy had ripped those bonds apart and I now had a migraine from the backlash.

The girls started looting the place along with rounding up as many slaves as possible. I wouldn't be able to take them all, but I'd have my pick of them. At least I would when I could concentrate.

Meanwhile I sat in the soothing dark and just prayed my headache didn't last too long. I was in no shape to cast spells and I was in enough pain that I couldn't even hear the blood song. I had always had a high tolerance for pain. This was beyond anything I could conceive of. If we were attacked now I was pretty much helpless.

When the sounds of combat started rising from throughout the cavern I honestly thought I was going to die. This was it. No heroic last battle. No real major differences to the timeline. Killed by a blasted migraine.

My relief when Bella returned was strong enough that if I had been standing I have no doubt I'd have collapsed. Thankfully I was already laying down and spared that embarrassment. I forced myself to concentrate on her words. There was no way I was just going to lay there and moan.

The news was mixed. A majority of the slaves were freed from enthrallment and rampaging around. They weren't organized and very factionalized. Many were simply fleeing the city. So I wasn't likely to pick up many or even any slaves. Looting might also not be possible depending on who finds out and how quickly they respond.

The good part was they were all taking the time to kill any illithid they found before going back to whatever they were doing. So if we move fast we can load up a decent amount of stuff before leaving. Well, they can gather.

Kethra, with her smoke shroud, terrified everyone in the city so she would direct most of the blood hulks in gathering what she could. Bella had opted to stay with me. It seemed to hurt less when she held me. Maybe Dumbledore wasn't crazy?

Hopefully when I wake up the world will make sense.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I woke to up to singing. It was beautiful. Haunting and sad. It was disorienting. Blood had never sounded like that before. It took a moment before I realized it. That wasn't blood. That was in my head.

I panicked. Not ashamed to admit it. One of my greatest fears is being mind controlled. Locked inside my own mind. Helpless. I jerked upwards, knocking Bella off the bench.

The song immediately changed. It became hopeful. It also sounded lonely. Like...it was begging?

I quickly reassured Bella before deciding to respond. I can still feel my mind blank up so I was safe from anything hostile. I was pretty curious to meet a friendly mind flayer.

I expected many things. An injured mind flayer. An imprisoned lich or alhoon. Maybe even, if I was very unlucky, an ambassador from another city. I was half right.

Staring at the clearly infested beholder I wasn't sure what to do. Truthfully I wasn't sure what I could do. It was looking directly at me and it's central eye was open. Meaning I was currently inside an antimagic field.

I was trying to come up with a plan when I heard the song again. I realized it was coming from the beholder. It was...trying to reassure me?

Well that's different.

I was still stunned by my realization when Kethra walks in. She pats the beholder before turned towards me. "Relax. He's friendly! The eye is just to make sure you don't shoot first. See! He's closing it now."

I groaned. While sleeping had gotten rid of most of my headache it seems Kethra had brought it back. Immediately I heard the song in my head again and the pain started fading.

I froze. "That's you?"

Agreement. Which means sleep didn't heal me. The beholder healed me. But why? As if in answer, and probably was, a flood of facts and images poured into my mind.

The girls looked concerned when I started cackling, but I was way too happy to care. This was perfect. Beyond anything I had hoped for.

The beholder, no Mindwitness, smoothly joined his mind to mine as if it belonged there. Mindwitnesses are created as completely subservient. They can't function without a telepathic master. And tt seems that I'm now telepathic. And with the death of the elder brain and slaughter of the illithids I was the only one in the city.

All three of the surviving Mindwitnesses wished to join me.

With their help I started rounding up slaves to eventually bring back with me. Not hard given how powerful they were. Besides the powers of a normal beholder they possessed a few psionic powers. Specifically they had most of the same enchantments I tended to use.

Their last power was the one most commonly known. They could create a temporary network of telepathic bonds. It allowed for near instantaneous communication and prevented any but the most blatant psionic influence. I remember reading they were sometimes used in Skullport for negotiations.

It was that power that I was the most interested in. Rary's Telepathic Bond has the limitation that you can't be linked to more then seven other creatures. Which is what the mindwitness does, just without the range limitation. Combine the two and I telepathically bond with mindwitnesses and then have them linked to the rest of my party. With enough mindwitnesses I can have up to seven different telepathic networks.

That'll have to wait until later. For now I concentrate on looting the city. We had gathered every scrap of paper along with anything that radiated magic that we could find.

Exploring the city was something out of a horror movie. The passages were irregular. Smooth flowing stone slick with mucus and mold. A strong fishy smell that made me thing of Cthulhu. The tentacles didn't help. Nor did the way there wasn't any straight lines. Everything curved. It was very disorienting.

A lot had been destroyed and likely we were missing even more since none of us could detect purely psionic items. I also insisted on destroying anything the mindwitnesses mentioned had a mental presence. I don't want anything capable of possession.

Still what we had was quite a bit. I did find a number of resonance stones. One of the few obviously psionic items I was comfortable with, they were incredibly common. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the emotion radiating crystals, but I'm positive I'll find a use for them.

It was with more mundane items that we really scored. The books alone numbered in the thousands. Weapons, tools and stockpiles of supplies I was unfamiliar with. We took it all. Crates, shrink item and bags of holding meant they only needed a single trip. It was the slaves that were the real issue.

The only way I had to transport them was bags of holding, which had a pretty low weight limit, and Mass Teleport. The problem was how much everything weighed. I could carry a bit over 1500 pounds. A single ogre or quaggoth could weigh almost that much. And the mindwitnesses were exponentially worse.

Which is probably a good thing. I only just realized how horribly wrong this could have gotten. Evidently my bloodwalk ignores faerzrezz. Teleport spells do not. I could have easily torn myself apart when leaving.

Looks like I'm leaving the hard way.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Really glad I'm a blood magus right now. I was able to bloodwalk back and reassure everyone that we were fine. Then I dropped off all of the accumulated loot from the city before grabbing a bunch of supplies and returning.

I ended up making several trips. In the end I even stole furniture. If nothing else I can use it as gifts for my family. I also brought down the rest of my party. No use keeping us split up.

The few days this occurred over meant there was plenty of time to figure out our next move. I was not going to leave behind the mindwitnesses. They were much too useful. And if I was already going to be bringing them along, I might as well be ambitious.

No doubt we made quite a sight. A half dozen humans, three beholders and a pack of dogs all guarding a convey of slaves. And all of it led by a sun elf.

We didn't actually traverse much of the Underdark. I had three beholders. I cheated. Between their disintegration beams and telekinesis, not to mention frequent Walls of Stone, we cut our own path to the surface. Even still progress was slow since I kept filling in the path behind us with walls of stone. There was no way I was going to create a path directly to Triboar.

We didn't encounter much. Our presence was too large for most things to be comfortable approaching us. We got used to the sound of things fleeing our passage. The exception seemed to be vermin.

Ants, beetles, spiders and other assorted bugs all tried to attack us. They were ferocious, giant and often mutated from the energies in the Underdark. They were also stupid.

No bug, no matter how enhanced could fight a beholder head on. Not to mention the rest of us. I wasn't even upset since it meant I was able to collect a number of specimens I had been interested in. Fire Beetles, Sword Spiders and one that I didn't recognize at all.

It had a head like a cross between a gorilla and a spider, all gnashing fangs and snapping mandibles. The head also seemed to make up most of the creature. It had ten long gangly legs that ended in clawed hands. It wasn't that fast, but it moved with an odd erratic gait that made it hard to accurately hit.

Of course it still didn't stand a chance. While it could dodge beams and knives equally well, nothing can dodge a magic missile. And of course we were slowed even more when I used spells to bloodwalk back and forth to transport the new bodies back to my base.

Our progress sped up as one by one I transported the slaves to my base. When we were down to just the mindwitnesses I was done. We blasted our way straight up. I didn't care if we appeared in the middle of the city, I just wanted out.

We didn't appear in the middle of the city, but it was close. We were close enough that one of the guard patrols spotted us. I didn't care. A faint sound alerted us to our being followed. A quick round of detection spells let us know it was drow. It seems our rush to the surface caught them by surprise.

I grin evilly. We spent a few minutes transmuting the ground into mud and pouring it down the hole before turning it all into stone. If they weren't fast enough they were now trapped inside. Even if they escaped there was no longer a tunnel to follow.

I wait a few minutes and check again. No drow. So either dead or fled. Either way not my problem anymore.

A number of guards were surrounding us. They were keeping back for now, but they'd want to question us. Not something I care about. So we just leave. Not like they can do anything since we flew.

As we fly off one of the idiots shoots at us. Kethra's darts shattering his bow and then his arm discourages anyone else from trying. Idiots.

We were finally out of the Underdark and if I get my wish we are never going back. There's something seriously wrong about the worst part of a successful campaign being the return trip. I was feeling like Odysseus towards the end.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 6 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 1

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 1 / Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 2 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 2 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 7 / Cleric 1 / True Necromancer 3

Huron Gosstal – Scout 4 / Beastmaster 5 (3 Cerberi)

Throd – Ranger 4 / Beastmaster 3 (3 Cerberi)

Usk Harpell – Swashbuckler 1 / Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 5 / Arcane Duelist 3

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 7 / Fleshwarper 2

Matherly Harpell – Illusionist 5 / Green Star Adept 10


	10. Undermountain

Chapter 9 Undermountain

It was less then a week later that I returned to the Underdark. Not that I had too much of a choice. There were just too many things I needed quickly and the only place I know where to find them was in the Underdark.

I had accomplished quite a bit in that time. I had given samples of everything to Regweld, arranged the housing of my new slaves and even copied all the books I had looted and turned it over to my family.

I had checked over my various projects. The ones in Longsaddle were running well under Uncle Matherly. The gnoll project was getting to a critical stage and both Huron and Throd were going to be staying there to take it over.

Irritating since I had just built them better weapons. Oh well, it'll be worth it if the gnoll project succeeds. And since Bidderdoo is as obsessed as Regweld with the samples I really did need new overseers.

Best of all I was now prepared! I had thought long and hard and finally came up with a solution. While I can't teleport large living creatures there is no reason I can't kill it, shrink it's body, teleport and then resurrect a creature. A bit convoluted, but the logic was sound.

Of course I wasn't about to age eight years for every creature I was transporting so the majority of that week was improving my Blood Link spell. Now I can tap the energy of a sacrificial creature to pay the cost of a Limited Wish. It tends to kill the creature instead of just aging them, but I have plenty to spare.

I didn't go alone of course. This time Geth along with the girls accompany me. Sadly once again I have to leave my mount behind. I can't wait until Usk finishes his training.

Speaking of training. I'm so proud of Kethra! She's finally given in and started casting spells! I can now say my entire party is made of casters.

I wasn't too worried about getting there. I just needed to shift over to Waterdeep and then bloodwalk down a few hundred feet. And that's when I appeared in the middle of a group of drow.

I was ever so glad I always teleported as an invisible cloud of mist. Even then the drow reacted instantly. It was impressive and a bit appalling how quickly they went from just standing to battle ready. And of course they start using their unique sign language which is one of the few I don't know.

I take the time to study them. The three guards were each outfitted in silk armor and the weapons they wielded all seemed to be made from crystal. Even more interesting was some of their weapons were clearly oriental.

I had plenty of time left on my spells so I decided to explore. Besides, I have to cancel my gaseous form to teleport again and I wasn't about to do that next to a bunch of drow.

The place was surprisingly open. Only a few long winding hallways studded with small rooms. Very few doors. Not even many traps. For such a paranoid race there were surprisingly little defenses.

Although that might be because of all the slaves scurrying around. They must have nearly a hundred of them. All of them goblins too. And male.

And if you look closer they all resembled each other. The realization stunned me.

The drow have a deepspawn!

All thoughts of leaving are immediately discarded. I'm going to steal their deepspawn. I start exploring more thoroughly now that I wasn't just looking for a place to leave from.

There were a lot of creatures now that I was paying attention. Spiders of all kinds were abundant. Besides the sword spiders used as mounts numerous watch spiders were present. The biggest surprise was a pair of aranea. All of the drow seemed to be very respectful of them. They 'blessed' patrols as they left the compound, which seemed to consist of casting several buffs on them.

I take it back when I said they were wide open. They did care about protecting a few areas. Those all had decent doors and were also protected by several glyphs. And even the places that seemed vulnerable had magical webbing lining the walls. It didn't seem to affect the spiders or drow, but I saw a goblin get stuck to it. Before that I had thought it was only decorative.

So disguised defenses. Likely traps as well. I wasn't a thief. I had no way of spotting any traps. So subtle probably won't work.

Frontal assault it is. But first I need a staging ground.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Eventually I found a crack in one of the walls that led me to outside the compound. I actually ended up floating above a roaring muddy river. The gifts from my familiars were invaluable. Telescopic, perfect nightvision let me explore the area incredibly quickly.

I didn't wander far. I found an aboleth, a nest of water nagas and even a colony of gargoyles and mephits next to a massive pit that I recognized as Belkram's Fall. And since I'm not at the top of the pit, I'm deeper that I intended.

The minotaurs are what gave my location away. Only one level had entire groups of minotaurs on it. The Maze Level. I was two levels past were I wanted to go. On the other hand, I had already found almost everything I wanted and more.

The minotaurs seemed the safest and I searched their area until I found a small cave that wasn't being used. Once inside I used Rope Trick and then brought out my party. After ending Sequester I told them what was going on.

The next day we headed out. I didn't like it, but I used all of my eighth level slots casting mind blank. Hopefully that will keep us from showing up on Halaster's diorama and safe from his mad whims.

Knowing we're about to get hold of a deepspawn we go all out. Invisibility Sphere lets us get the first strike. Darts and magic missiles tear into the half dozen minotaurs who are carrying ...fishing poles.

Huh. We don't really need the advantage of surprise. They all drop with the first volley. Well that's kind of disappointing.

I store a couple of the female bodies. A larger population base will help in breeding my own minotaurs. The others are being worked on by Geth. He was preparing to start recreating our typical blood hulk squad.

The rest of the minotaurs were just as disappointing. A single magic missile from Bella was often enough to down one. I guess we really didn't need Usk for this. Honestly, between the girls killing everything and Geth's animations I was feeling a little bit redundant.

There weren't that many minotaurs. Only a few dozen. And thanks to the roaring of the river we caught nearly all of them by surprise and in small groups. It seems a bit ironic that in this scenario we're the rampaging unstoppable monsters.

Since I saved a few bodies we only were able to make five blood hulks. Since there were about thirty drow I definitely wanted more. Looks like I'm going to have to make a trip back for a troll.

Before I did I wanted to harvest a few more of the inhabitants. After all, we've been up for less then an hour. Making camp right now would leave us incredible bored the rest of the day.

So we went hunting along the river.

I had to guide the group since the darkness and water meant no one else could see the creatures that lurked underwater. It still wasn't much of a challenge.

A few light spells at the right time let everyone else see and between flying and mind blank very few things could even harm us. The few mephits and other flying creatures left us alone after Kethra skewered the first few.

The aboleth from earlier turned out to have a few skum and even a chaos beast until it's control. The bodies of all of which I eagerly stored away. The aboleth had tried to flee, but faerie fire provided a perfect target for Bella. Looks like Christmas has come early for Regweld and Bidderdoo.

Since I was interested in the water nagas because they were all sorcerers I didn't take any chances with them. From extreme range I unleashed two delayed blast fireballs along with a normal fireball all timed to go off together.

I wasn't even surprised that I didn't kill all of them. Still, two were more than enough for now.

Further down the river we run into a few pockets of other creatures. Just like the aboleth, flying and mind blank turn desperate battles into target shooting. While the kuo-toa were mildly interesting, the umberhulks proved to be the real treasure.

It was a small group. Only three of them. But they were also overly reliant on their tremorsense. None of them seemed to notice us even when we killed the first one while it was standing next to another. And as for the leader, that was the real surprise.

The umberhulk had crystalline growths jutting from it's head, like a grafted spikey crown. When it died it's flesh started to rapidly rot away, starting from its head. I have no doubt if I hadn't used gentle repose only the skull would have been left.

Definitely keeping this one. As for the rest, well I do need blood hulks to deal with the drow.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Eight blood hulks thunder down the corridor as they charge recklessly into the drow outpost. Their orders were simple. Kill everything.

We follow behind them, staying together for safety. Unlike the monsters earlier drow are clever and paranoid. I doubt, even as powerful as the blood hulks are, that they'll be able to clear out the entire base.

We were close enough to see the first few guard posts overrun. The drow there, no matter how skilled, just couldn't deal enough damage to the undead to disable them. And eventually a lucky blow would land.

I guess I over estimated them because of their reputation. I forget just how fragile elves are. Average health for a sixth level fighter with a negative constitution is really low. And of course drow seem to lean towards thief / fighter builds. So average of about 30 hit points?

My blood hulks deal more than that. I had measured it once. After all the improvements they went from an average of 23 up to 39. Most of the drow simply exploded when they were struck.

It helped of course that drow relied so heavily on poisons, sneak attacks and striking vulnerable areas. All of which were useless against undead.

They were adapting though. Quickly the drow were starting to fight from the ceilings, making it harder to reach them. They also led them into traps. While most weren't powerful enough to matter, the webbing could stop a blood hulk, if only for a moment. And there was webbing everywhere.

Well we can't have that now. A few quick telepathic messages and we struck simultaneously. Geth cast light on several of the bloodhulks, blinding the drow. Kethra and Bella used the opportunity to kill as many of the ones on the ceiling as they could. Sure they were out of reach of melee, but there wasn't any cover up there. And I used an underpowered fireball to clear out the webbing.

If the rest of the drow didn't know about us by now the light spells would have alerted them. By the time more arrived though we were already back under another invisibility sphere. And just in time too. It looks like everything in the compound rushed in.

It was hilarious to see a team of drow silently walk right past us, trying to ambush the blood hulks from behind. They really should have made some silencing wards. Between the riven and a simple invisibility they don't stand a chance of detecting us.

I noticed quite a few of them had even more of the odd magical crystals the minotaurs had used. The drow had some attached to their armor and weapons though, not just carried in pouches. Interesting. Just as well I don't plan on giving them the chance to hit me.

Once it seems that the everything was engaging the blood hulks I started casting. A series of invisible delayed blast fireballs flooded the halls with fire, leaving nowhere safe. Dodge that.

I misjudged the effects of a fireball in a small enclosed space. The fireball didn't hit us. But the wall of superheated air pushed by it did. I didn't react fast enough and caught the full blast. My party, great friends that they are, hid behind me.

At least it worked. The only thing getting up after the blasts were the blood hulks. Everything else was very clearly dead.

Except the priestess. Who just gestured with her snake whip rod thingy... and took over my blood hulks.

Screw this. Bloodwalk, Animate Blood. And as a final touch a spell I invented called Bloodshape. Normally I use it to harden my own blood temporarily to act as subcutaneous armor since it only works on my blood. But under the influence of Animate, if only for a moment, their blood becomes mine.

The priestess' back explodes as I tear my way free. Even as she staggers forward she attempts to speak. No doubt to command the blood hulks. Instead she violently coughs up blood.

The cough seems to wrack her with pain and she spasms. It looks like she's trying to scream at that point. Looks like shaping her blood into caltrops is just as lethal as I had hoped.

No less than she deserved. Steal my undead will you.

Once Geth regains control of the blood hulks we continue. We have fun pulping the few spiders that hadn't already been killed. There wasn't much else here. Even the slaves had all fled.

Searching the entire place didn't take long. Using the blood hulks as minesweepers meant we didn't have to progress at a crawl. When we get the temple we get our first surprise. Turns out we didn't kill everything.

One of the priestesses had survived. Worse, she had spent the time we were searching to prepare. When we smashed through the doors we were greeted by a pack of shadow mastiffs. I actually felt sorry for her. If that was the best she could do she was wasting her time.

The first mastiff was met by a spiked gauntlet that knocked it out of the air. A second later a tower shield slammed into it, snapping it's neck. The remaining hounds attempted to faded before a daylight spell from Kethra abruptly brought them into focus.

A shriek grabbed our attention. The daylight spell did more than make the shadow mastiffs vulnerable. It had broken the priestess' concentration. A massive spider demon was currently tearing her into small chunks.

I flicked an invisible delayed fireball, my last, towards it. If the rest of my party doesn't kill it soon, it'll go off. Still, a bebilith isn't too dangerous and combat is the best way to level up.

Geth is directing the blood hulks so I'm free to watch the girls fighting the demon. Bella casts force lance along with a quickened missile storm. I just stare when the two spells prove to be strong enough to kill it.

A moment later I just grin. Damn I'm good. Bella's build is just amazing.

The deepspawn was located in the chambers off to the side and it turns out they have two of them. This place is a goldmine. We spend the next few hours stripping the entire place down and gathering it all to be transported.

Since this is Undermountain I'm not too surprised to find a portal in the heart of the base. I was about to try blocking it when a small grey dragon shimmered into view. It breathed out, filling the room with poisonous gas.

It started to move back towards the portal when a barrage of darts slammed into it. I really should have suspected the drow had some kind of guardian. I don't recognize the species either. I love finding new specimens, but we're definitely blocking it now.

Portal blocked by a Wall of Stone we set the blood hulks to standing guard at the physical entrances. Tomorrow we'll check where the northern entrance leads. We also need to reset our spells if we're going to thoroughly loot everything here.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Kethra wearily leaned back against a wall. They should have been able to sleep hours ago. But noooo, Undermountain apparently hates sleep.

She didn't even get a nap in since she was first watch. Having heard the sounds of fighting she had roused the others, particularly enjoying kicking Pharaxes awake. Stupid impatient idiot. How dare he happily cuddle with his girlfriend when her's wasn't here.

And it isn't like she can be made at Usk. If she had died she would probably want more training too. And the elven mummy really was good. Still, couldn't he have practiced his sword forms while traveling?

Her internal complaints all halted when she reached the north entrance. The blood hulks there were fighting what looked like rocks. Long, stretched out wiggling rocks. Kind of like giant snakes. If snakes were made from mottled grey stone. And had a mouth like a lamprey. And two arms with jagged blades for fingers.

So maybe not snakes. Kethra snorted. Fatigue was getting to her. At least they didn't seem too dangerous. The blood hulks weren't having too much trouble killing them.

As they watched the fight just seemed to drag on. She realized it was because more of the stone snake things kept coming through the door. Taking a peek through the door she realized she couldn't see the floor. That was a lot of snakes.

Almost absent mindedly she started flicking darts into the fight. At least they aren't too hard to hurt. Damn it. They were going to have to either say her who knows how long or hunt down the source.

And of course Pharaxes chooses to go forward. He always acts so cautious. Plans and preparations for weeks. But as soon as something new pops up he just charges in to kill it. Idiot.

And probably her too since she's following.

After a few feeet the hall turns into a small cavern. Maybe thirty feet wide. And there are a lot of tunnels branching off from it. She counted eleven between killing more the rock snakes. Although after seeing one of them eat a new tunnel she stopped counting. Maybe worms are a better name?

The tunnels are cramped, only four feet high. They are also inhabited. And when you kill a rock worm you end up blocking the tunnel. Which is eventually what they did.

After killing enough rock worms, they just piled them in the hall in order to make a barrier. Her brother Geth animated a few and left them on the other side of the pile. Hopefully they'll last long until morning.

By that point Kethra was so tired she just waved lazily at her brother as he took watch. Her bedroll was calling to her.

Her attempts to sleep were soon rudely interrupted. Who the hell cast a light spell in the room? And why were they talking so loud? She flicked a dart at them.

There was a scream and then the voice started talking again. She finally opened her eyes to glare at the speaker and sighed.

A translucent figure is hovering in the middle of the room. The light was from how brightly he was glowing. Ghost.

Two force darts fly out and stab into the arm he raised to block them. She notes that even though he looks like he's wearing plate armor it didn't stop her darts. Just decorations then. Good. Should be easier to kill him and go back to sleep.

He exploded into a pale blue mist that filled the room. She felt a wrenching sensation and when it cleared realized they were in a different room. Bastard teleported us!

He started speaking again. She missed most of it, busy looking for him so she can turn him into swiss cheese. Another of Pharaxes' oddly catchy sayings.

What. What was that? "And I do this for your own good, in the hopes that you will learn sincere humility."

That doesn't sound good. As I try to recall what he had said earlier he kept talking. "However should you wish to acknowledge your lesson now you are free to beseech Tyr to release you. Although you will be left with nought but a simple tunic and dagger to ensure the lesson is not soon forgotten."

Needless to say we don't do that. I like the dart bracers way too much to give them up now. They're practically a part of me. And she knows Bella positively adores her eye patch.

At least Pharaxes knows what's going on. He barely hesitates before leading us off. I just hope we there soon.

The monsters here are really dumb. Almost all of them just charge straight at us. Even the ones that are supposed to be intelligent, like the minotaurs, do the same. At least they're bright enough to try to run away. And it is try.

They just ran in straight lines. How dumb is that? They can't run faster than I throw. Should never have tried.

At least the stupid ghost sent the blood hulks with us. With how low on spells everyone else was it was basically down to them and me. Damn that ghost.

Eventually we stumble upon a room that's been converted into a small forest. It's a couple hundred feet across, but sparse enough to notice that buildings in the back.

Good. Ii need sleep. And hopefully the stupid ghost won't come back.

Thankfully it wasn't hard to clear the place out. There's only a hag and a pair of ogres.

Pharaxes then had the blood hulks guarding all the entrances to the grove while we tried to get some sleep. And of course it doesn't work.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

 _Beshaba must really hate us._

Geth couldn't think of any other reason that everything seemed to be going so wrong. Exhausted, low on spells and constantly under attack. His sister is practically the only thing keeping them alive right now.

He's really glad Pharaxes had gotten him that ring of sustenance right now. There had just barely been enough time for him to sleep before the explosions had started.

And he still needed another six hours of meditation before he could fight alongside her. Still, it doesn't mean he can't go over to watch. At last he had been able to pray to Velsharoon. Cleric spells aren't ideal, but better than nothing. He wouldn't be completely useless.

Besides, if he sees she's alright it should be easier to relax.

When he arrives Geth almost has a panic attack. Beholders! How is his sister, no matter how skilled, going to face beholders! And she can't even use her cloak since one of them is looking at her.

Kethra doesn't give up, bravely dodging and throwing darts. Smart of her. Trying to blind it. He wants to cheer, but doesn't want to distract her.

Then the beholder explodes. A few seconds later all of the beholders explode. Only a sickly yellow cloud remains. He recognizes it too. Plant spores. So not beholders. Oops.

He feels embarrassed for a moment before noticing something passing through the fading spore cloud. Something invisible.

He can tell Kethra doesn't see it. As tired as she is, she probably has trouble concentrating. It explains the spells Velcharoon had chosen for him.

A lesser restoration to remove Kethra's fatigue. A web wall to make it obvious something passes through. And finally buffs. Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Bear's Endurance and Owl's Wisdom. And everything lasting long enough for everyone else to finish resting.

He relaxes when his sister flashes him a wide grin and casually perforated the invisible creature multiple times. When it faded into view he realized why he hadn't gotten an Invisibility Purge or See invisibility. Phantom fungi had a unique ability to avoid sight that was, as far as he could tell, impossible to bypass.

Yes, Velsharoon is occasionally demanding, but he definitely doesn't regret taking up his worship.

The fungus bothered him though. Combined with the yellow spores from earlier and he had a very bad feeling.

Is there another crazy dryad down here?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I kind of see why Halaster made his diorama now. If everything was like this high level adventurers could easily clear out his entire dungeon in a single trip. Aside from a few rare individuals, mostly his own apprentices, I doubt there was much down here that posed any kind of threat to us.

I had finished meditating to find Kethra still protecting us. While Geth was tapped out magically, between Bella and myself we had plenty of firepower.

Heading north we quickly found a cave that held a small myconid colony. The pens housing immature gas spores and other plants confirmed this was the source of the attack. Odd since myconids are supposed to be very peaceful.

They didn't even try to talk. Hopefully it's a taught behavior. I make sure to gather a number of their young and transport them back to my base. If nothing else I can have Regweld experiment on them to make them friendlier.

It was the next encounter that jogged my memory. A small room with a pool inside it and a helmed horror standing guard. This was that stupid paladin quest!

I had hated that adventure arc when I was caught in it. We lost half our party to his teleporting.

I gave a few directions and then we crushed the helmed horror. After a few minutes the water surged and formed into an elemental. We were prepared and a volley of fire spells slammed into it.

It was with vindictive glee that I made sure to disintegrate the sword the helmed horror wielded. Let's see him free himself now! Bastard.

Fortunately he doesn't seem to realize the significance of my act.

Very satisfied we keep exploring the fairly simple area. With mind blank blocking all the confusion wards it's really easy. When we reach the warren of tunnels filled with the stone snake things I knew we were close.

I was prepared this time. Every time we killed a snake I shrank it down. Without all the detours it didn't take long to make out way through. And at the heart of the warrens we found the source of all the snakes.

A deepspawn.

I don't hold back. I don't have many teleports left, so this will be my last supply drop. We might as well rest afterwards. It doesn't take long to kill it. Deepspawn are normally very intelligent, but this one was practically mindless. It makes me wonder if he's using the same combination of curses I intended too?

I'm tempted to just leave afterwards. I don't have a beholder, but I still collected more than enough to occupy me for quite some time. In the end I stay though. It just doesn't feel right to retreat and leave behind loot I earned.

The next morning we make it back to the compound. The stupid ghost paladin is there, but he only congratulates us on learning our lesson. It's all I can do to not give anything away as I thank him for the opportunity he gave me.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. Gather. Teleport. Repeat.

And all done as quickly as possible. Halaster may not be able to see us, but he definitely knows we're here. We've had to dodge roaming portals a half dozen times already. They've also dropped a few random monsters off.

Also large, very lethal traps are also starting to spring up either near us or in places we had just been. Clearly I've overstayed my welcome. I wonder if it's because he can tell I've found a way to teleport past his wards?

Sadly it means my beholder will have to wait. Skullport is only safe because Halaster keeps the Skulls in check. If they realize Halaster is upset with me I'll likely die the next instant. I guess I'll just have to console myself with my three deepspawn.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 6 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 1

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Wizard 1 / Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 3 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 4 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / Cleric 1 / True Necromancer 5

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 6 / Arcane Duelist 3


	11. Bounty

Chapter 10 Bounty

Sadly Halaster's enmity wasn't the only reason I didn't immediately return to Undermountain. The main reason was I was just too busy.

While I loved the fact that I obtained the bodies of so many different creatures I wasn't set up to house them all. So I sacrificed quite a few gnolls and trolls creating more delver simulacrums. Sure twenty delvers might be overkill, but at least it made construction go by quickly.

Old Owl Well is set in a flat, featureless plain of grass. It's also the only source of water found within three days travel in every direction. Which apparently means about 72 miles. And due to that lack of water it's uninhabited.

So I didn't feel guilty when I move my moats from five miles out to thirty. Sure it's a bit greedy, but no one else is using it and it also means I'll likely never have to worry about running out of room. Especially since I was creating so many new areas for my new specimens.

The ogres of course went to my gnoll pens. Testing had confirmed adding ogre blood didn't prevent the offspring from being animated as dread warriors. So it was important to maintain enough genetic diversity to create a stable breeding population.

More importantly I now also had a minotaur project. While they can't be turned into dread, their charge ability was one of the more powerful ones from what I remember. I vaguely remember a character in one of my games boosting it until it was basically an instakill move. So it was worth investing a little effort into seeing what I could accomplish with it. At least it wasn't really costing me anything but some time.

It was the deepspawn that required the most room. Not for themselves. They had been effectively lobotomized already. No their creatures were the issue. While I did like the opportunity to add a herd of deep rothe to my farms, it wasn't really that impressive. No the stone snakes were the goldmine.

The proper name for them was rocklords. They're a subspecies of Bi-Nou and apparently incredibly rare outside Undermountain. The most common theory is Halaster or one of his apprentices created them.

They are highly valuable for their hides, which acts like adamantine as long as the pieces are large enough. I gave a bunch to my crafters and so far they managed to fashion breastplate armor, shields, and maces from it. Even better I'm using the scraps to strengthen the stone walls in my base.

Fortunately a limited wish was enough to reset the creatures the deepspawn could create. While he wasn't likely to leave it that way, the half-fang dragon cave trolls it was now making were at least more useful than mere goblins.

It was actually the deepspawn that prompted his trip. It wasn't anything fancy. Just a series of teleports down to the Lake of Steam. Memories from before along with a hefty dose of magic let him make is idea a reality.

A large oyster, almost five feet across, was calmed, charmed and then seeded. A charge from the staff of healing made sure it didn't die from my lack of practice. A number of haste spells later and instant pearls!

I took a few days off to experiment. I also brought the others down since I needed more caster aid. I wanted the best possible spread and range of pearls for my idea.

The final result though was worth it. A single pearl is less than an inch across. An oyster five feet across can hold literally thousands of pearls. At least if they used enormous amounts of magic to cheat like I was.

Over seven thousand black pearls. Well, really a range of colors from green to black. But for some reason still all called black. And every single one of them worth at least 200 gold. Which is perfect for me.

The darken beast spell, a very commonly used spell there, requires a black pearl worth at least 200 gold. Looks like I have reason to trade with Thay now. I guess I should do something to make up for all the bad publicity I'm giving them. Including my visit to the Lake of Steam.

I heavily glamered myself and my companions to look like a red wizard and his tattooed bodyguards. Then I used dominate and charms to get all the information I needed. After all, it had been around two decades since I last read about pearl farming.

Then I used a forget spell that I knew wouldn't erase all the relevant memories before stealing a few tools. I could fabricate them, but it made my false trail more believable. Of course I threw the tools away as soon as I could. And about a hundred miles away in the direction of Thay. Just in case.

With a deepspawn creating a copy of my perfectly cultivated oyster every three days I'm soon going to be buried in pearls. Which is probably way more than I'll ever need. But will probably come in useful for crafting.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Of course that wasn't all I accomplished down by the Lake of Steam.

While traveling I ran into a group of bandits. Naturally we wiped them out. A shadowfire ball took out most of the them. Bella and Kethra then cut down the survivors. Our teamwork was flawless. We had too much experience for it not to be.

The surprise came from the troll. He had been leading the charge and had also thrown himself to the ground when he saw me casting. He also was still on the ground and had tossed his greatsword to the side.

Smart. I can always use another intelligent minion. Especially one that comes in the form of a regenerating tank.

As I continue staring the troll starts fidgeting. He even starts to crawl off when Bella traps him in a wall of force. She really does get me.

His grasp of common is rudimentary, which makes interrogating him annoying. Not enough for me to kill him though. Still, the young troll, named Arrk, is quite a bit brighter than any other troll I've scanned. Which admittedly aren't too many. He's smarter than most humans I've met as well, which is impressive.

I'm not sure from where, but I feel like his name is familiar somehow. Probably from an adventure he was featured in. I wonder if he was supposed to become famous. Not like it matters now.

He immediately agrees to serve me. Using detection spells along with detect thoughts it's easy to tell he's not really loyal. He just cares about surviving.

Of course, I can tell he wouldn't stay loyal. But that was easily taken care of with a single bestow curse. Now lawful in alignment and much less likely to ever betray me I accepted his service. Geas and a few other contingent spells ensure he won't survive a betrayal.

At first I considered having him train as a duskblade. However, despite his above average intelligence it was clear he wasn't suited for spell casting. In the end I just had Huron start training Arrk alongside Throd for now. Just the basics are enough for right now.

Arrk proved his worth almost immediately when I questioned him. Turns out one of the islands in the Lake of Steam has beholders. It's also infested with a number of other creatures so it'll have to wait until our equipment is finished.

It did prompt me to make a few quick journeys to gather a few more specimens though. Particularly ones involving dragons.

One of the greatest weaknesses of trolls was acid. Fire too, but red dragons were less common. And of course Klauth actively hunts down as many of them as he can. I doubt I'll find any.

Black dragons though weren't nearly as rare. In fact they were fairly common in the Lizard Marshes. It seems like every year a few young black dragons were encountered nearby. So after reading up on everything I can find about the area I drop by.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The Lizard Marsh is very aptly named. It took less than an hour for us to get ambushed by lizardfolk. We had been flying at a fairly slow pace, when the shower of javelins had appeared. Stoneskin let us calmly face them.

They were brave, even if not very bright. They charged in, waving crude weapons. A few quick telepathic comments later and we had our plan. Geth dropped a wall of ice down, isolating the nearest from from the rest. Kethra disabled the leader while Bella killed the rest.

They stood guard as I charmed the leader and interrogated him. It's times like these that I love being a high level mage.

Using his information we quickly made it to the lizardfolk village. It was primitive. Mostly wood and mud buildings. The equipment was primarily wood and bone. The exception was their armor. A lot of the lizardfolk were wearing blade dragon scale armor. Looks like I've come to the right place.

I toss the head of the lizardfolk I interrogated down. Proof of our power. That and our hovering a few feet of the ground should be enough to make them wary. Then I drop a butchered sheep and a bronze axe. Carrot and stick.

The bronze axe wasn't easy to make. I was forced to make a new ninth level spell just to generate bronze. Likely because of the high copper content. Still I wanted bronze since it wouldn't rust. Hopefully they'll realize how valuable bronze is. It'd be irritating if they end up preferring iron.

A few lizardfolk still throw large barbed darts at us. Kethra responds immediately and lethally. After that negotiations began.

Sadly it turns out they do want iron weapons. What a waste. Still with a name like Ironfang I guess I can see why the chief wants steel weapons. Oh well, it's easier to make steel anyway.

A bargain is quickly struck and I create a solid stone tower to mark our deal. An alarm spell will let me know whenever someone enters. Food and steel in exchange for black dragon eggs and bodies. Even more for a captured wyrmling.

I promised they could keep the tower afterwards. It should go without saying I'm going to kill anyone who trips the alarm without the items. It should serve as a constant reminder not to cross me. Especially since their shaman attempted to curse us and I turned him to stone and mounted him on top.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

It was in Silverymoon that I found a similar place to go for blue dragons. Sundabar was a mixed dwarven human city that was often faced with attacks from orcs. They also faced more their fair share of blue dragons. Considering the location I'm betting the dragons were from the Blood of Moreume.

It was both easier and more complicated to make a deal with Sundabar. There was no way I could use the same tactics so I instead I just used gold. Or at least barter.

Sundabar turned out incredibly profitable. The dwarves at least are familiar with rocklords and they are considered incredibly valuable. I trade over a dozen of them to seal my deal as well as purchase a small property to set my alarm spell in.

I also trade more to purchase a set of dwarven dendritic crystal armor. I really wanted it since the unusual armor actually regenerates without enchantments. I'm betting it'll help Uncle Matherly in his studies since he's become obsessed with geology. Not that I can blame him. After all he pretty much is geology.

Since I really want the secrets of how to work both I also pull off my now standard fake red wizard ambush. It takes a bit longer since I arrange a fake caravan as well. I really don't want anything traced back to me and two visitors suddenly arriving and leaving might seem suspicious.

To make it more believable I use both darken beasts and dominated barbarians disguised as tattooed warriors. Of course everything has explosive runes on them. No point letting them inspect anything too closely.

And the two craftsman aren't the only ones I stage an attack on. There was one other person I really whose skills I wanted access too.

The reason was simple. Elves are bigots. Horribly so.

More precisely elves look down on humans so much that half-elves are spat upon. However they still train them as bladesingers and use them as unofficial troubleshooters. In other words adventurers.

Recently Usk had exhausted his mummy trainer. The idea of having him train in two different disciplines considered exclusively elven is hilarious to me. Now if only I could get Kethra trained as an arcane archer.

Sometimes elves really piss me off. They claim to be so superior when much of their vaulted high magic is stolen from Netheril. Which reminds me to hunt down Windsong Tower sometime in the future.

Soon enough I have two more clones growing at my base. One for working rocklord hide and the other for crafting dendritic armor. I really love the clone spell. Now I just need the other types of dragons.

Given how Klauth hunts down red dragon eggs I doubt I'll be able to find any. Green dragons are pretty much redundant as long as I obtain black dragon eggs. And shadow dragons are pretty much only in the Underdark.

Although one does get killed one when they free Mithral Hall. I think I need to keep a closer eye on the Bruenor Battlehammer. When he heads off I'm going to want to monitor him to collect my sample.

At least my white and fang dragon eggs were coming along nicely. A quick resurrection spell, harvest the genitals, gender reversal curse and instant fertilized zygotes. A bit of spellwork to implant it in a wyvern, of which I have plenty thanks to the Eye, and instant eggs.

If haste works on wyrmlings I'll very likely be able to replace my mount eventually. It feels a bit reckless breeding dragons, but if it works it'll be worth it.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

It was when I started really setting up my facilities to mass produce magical items that I realized I no longer needed to rely on the clone spell. In fact I only needed a single clone of myself.

It was a terrible waste, but once the first one woke up I killed the rest. Deepspawn copies were so much easier to control than a clone. And best of all I was able to permanently enchant the clone before the deepspawn ate it. So each copy came with it's own controls built in.

Not that it was hard. A charm and small penalty to charisma and the copies were very cooperative. It probably helped I layered charms on the deepspawn as well.

With a rapidly growing force of crafters I set them to finally properly outfitting my group. The first item was the smoke shroud. One was made for each of what I had considering my core group. Myself, Bella, Geth, Kethra.

Usk as well despite his absence. And possibly Bidderdoo if I can tear him away from his studies long enough. Sadly it looks like Huron and Throd's retirement is going to be permanent.

Since I soon had an abundance of crafters I also had them start copying a particular cauldron. Taken from the lair of the hag in Undermountain it provided a host of benefits when used to brew potions.

Most importantly it allowed a myconid king to brew normal potions and not plant specific versions.

I'm not sure why, but myconids don't seem to have a minimum age that safe to use haste on. At least once they're mobile. Even better they were most assuredly not automatically hostile towards me.

From talks with them I figured out what happened. Myconids are organized into circles, which are like social status levels. The only group with a single member is the king. Which they consider a necessary evil. None of them want to be in charge. Apparently the hag had volunteered to take that role.

So I volunteered to serve as their king. Of course I still insisted they create kings. I just had them create a full group of them and renamed them shamans. Their role was simple. Serve as administrators and brew me potions. At least once I had enough cauldrons for them.

Still I wasted no time in setting them up a series of caverns both under Longsaddle and at my base. Their willing support was literally priceless. And their demands were so low, just shelter and protection, that I was planning on spreading them everywhere I held territory.

The number of placed in which that held true would sadly would not be increasing any time soon. I would have used copies of myself since they proved so tractable. The problem was they were little better than drones. No drive or personality. A simulacrum acted more like a real person than a copy did.

Not that magic items were the only things I set up facilities for. With all of the various specimens I had brought back alchemical goods were now easily generated. Aboleths fell on both sides. Their mucus worked both as the main ingredient in potions of water breathing, but could also be sold on it's own. Of course their mucus was rare right now since Bidderdoo kept using it all up.

Fire beetles were raised for their glands. But I also bred ropers for their stomach fluids, which acted like an immensely powerful gentle repose spell. Combine the two and seal it inside a bit of crystal and you have a light source that lasts for literally months.

Grenades were actually all alchemical combinations. Examples included flashbangs were made from combining flash pellets and shriek paste. And thanks to the drow I killed and cloned they can adjusted to only affect infravision.

Specimens didn't just come from my trips to the Underdark. I had long since increased the bounty Regweld had offered for new specimens and some of them were useful. Alchemist Fire could be enhanced with flamecloves to burn hotter or flamesnake venom to burn longer.

Umplebys, which look like bigfoot crossed with cousin It from Adam's family, funny the odd things I still remember, create woven hair cord that's much stronger than steel. It's also highly conductive and as light as silk.

Digesters, spiders and a host of other creatures were cursed, charmed and copied for their products. In fact there were so many useful creatures that I was actually considering trying to find Skullport again. Deepspawn are incredibly useful. I have no idea how I got so far without them.

Unfortunately I wasn't willing to go to Undermountain until all of the new gear was finished. Besides I was busy working on my new school. It was closer to a couple of breeding areas devoted to races I was interested in for their sorcerous potential, but school was easier to refer too.

The first was my nest of nagas. The water nagas had reminded me of one of my notes. Bone nagas are one of the types of undead that were automatically loyal to the caster regardless of how many other undead are being controlled.

I don't have the ritual to make them yet, but it was only a matter of time. Meanwhile I can take the time to train my ideal future bone naga. Water nagas have a natural affinity for water based spells which is what I was taking advantage of.

There were quite a few mist and fog spells. And after my experiences with the smoke shroud I'm pretty familiar with just how powerful they can be. So I decided to create a perfected spell list. One that will complement or even support my future undead troops.

The second area was for derro. While they do possess a form of racial insanity, it can be worked with. Because of how they think they have a tendency to become incredibly obsessive. Which means with the proper set of enchantments it's fairly easy to craft a specific delusion for them.

For now it was a simple one. They had all been 'chosen'. They were being tested to see who was the most worthy. Only one will survive. You win by becoming the most powerful sorceror.

Of course they'll have to monitored extremely closely to ensure they don't escape, but once one does win I'm just going to feed him a new delusion. After all it shouldn't be too difficult to twist the mind of an insane person enough for him to volunteer to serve as a powerful immortal champion. That he's going to be turned into a watchghost doesn't need to be mentioned.

The last area is more of a single lab with several storage rooms attached. Flameskulls, like watchghosts, are permanent undead guardians. Although I don't know how to create them yet, the knowledge having been lost in time, I want to be ready just I case.

Since all that is needed is a skull of any being that consciously magically attuned I take full advantage of that fact. I took a normal troll, infused him with infernal energy to give him the spark that's needed to wield magic and then have him study sorcery.

Dragon blood would probably have worked even better then infernal energy, but I'm waiting until I get a black dragon before I turn him into a half dragon. Flameskulls are already immune to cold, fire and electricity. Immunity to acid will make them immune to all four of the standard elements.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

In the end my experimentation with the specimens led me once more to hunting dragons. The odd rapidly decaying umberhulk turns out to be infused with magic. And it was concentrated in his skull.

After copying it and testing the skull I found out its a naturally enchanted helmet that raises intelligence. It's a creature that has a body part that's an actual detachable magical item. That's game breaking.

Of course I wanted more.

So I decided the best course of action was to focus on the crystalline growths. And the best way I know to do that was to make him a half dragon. But not just any dragon. A dragon that has crystalline flesh. A gem dragon.

And I just so happen to know where one is. Maybe because it's one of the first forgotten realms novels I've read, but I still recall parts from War in Tethyr. In particular the fact that a polymorphed gem dragon lives in the city disguised as a human sorceress obsessed with sapphires.

Thay is really going to end up being hated world wide at this rate. I use the standard fake ambush against the sorceress calling herself Nyandar. True Seeing had confirmed she was the one I wanted.

Sadly I can't clone dragons. A blood sample wasn't going to be enough this time. My ambush involved my entire party. I had no desire to give her a chance to transform back so we went all out.

I led the attack, casting a spell I had prepared just for this assault. An invisible, maximized, twinned scorching ray. Combined with the bloodfire ooze I might be able to kill the dragon by myself. No sense taking chances though.

Meanwhile Kethra threw a volley of dart as Bella cut loose with enough magic missile that it looked like an entire cloud of missiles. Geth cast an enervation. Bidderdoo cast a ray of enfeeblement and Usk appeared out of invisibility next to her already swinging.

We hit and while the missiles and ray sizzled out, failing against spell resistance or some other defense, the rest struck true. It barely seemed to faze her.

Nyandar shivered and suddenly blurred into motion. She twisted and kicked and suddenly Usk was flying back, crashing into a nearby wall. She made a different gesture with each hand and the building imploded around Usk even as a half dozen images of her appeared.

Damn it Usk, you better not be dead again!

I paused a second, long enough for Bella to clear out the images with a single quick cast. And then we all struck again. Chain lightning, another enervation, more darts and two sets of missiles all homed in on our target.

Nyandar smirked as the enervation and magic missile spells struck a shimmering sphere that appeared around her. Just how many spells can she cast in a round?

She took a few second to inhale deeply. Then, facing Kethra she let out what sounded like the loudest cough. A fist size purple gem shot out, distorting the air in it's wake. Kethra tried, but couldn't dodge it completely.

The gem clipped her arm and exploded, throwing jagged shards everywhere. And then the still rippling air slammed into her. _That was some kind of enhanced breath weapon._

 _Dragons aren't supposed to keep their original stats when polymorphed!_

Kethra hits the ground missing an arm. She's barely conscious. Usk climbs free from the building, but he's limping pretty badly. He's also favoring his left side.

I make a new plan and then cast haste on everyone. We're going to need it.

Geth and I cast kiss of the vampire while the others inject themselves with tombspider venom. Geth then casts a shadowfire ball directly on top of us all. It fails to affect Nyandar, but it wasn't for her.

I had cast a number of buffs earlier, never thought they'd be used to protect us from ourselves. The fire is absorbed even as the negative energy heals us.

Nyandar ignores the few darts Kethra managed to lob at her as she dashes towards me. Halfway the ground suddenly surges into a wave that she rides. The ground shifts and I'm falling even as Nyandar axe kicks me into the ground.

I slam into the ground hard enough to crack the pavement. Hip pints confirmed then. I also think she cracked a rib. Maybe all of them. I black out.

I'm not sure how long I was unconscious, but it was too long. She's still standing next to me, but only Bidderdoo is still up now. She left him for last. Probably because he still hasn't managed to hurt her.

I have a horrible idea and start casting before I can talk myself out of it. She kicks at me reflexively for once one of Bidderdoo's spells work. A spectral stag slams into Nyadar and attempts to push her away. She easily resists, but her kick misses. Which is good since I'm already coughing up blood.

Then I explode into a mass of tentacles.

Nyandar Is buried under the dark tentacles form I polymorphed into. A second later she dies, drained by a dozen vampiric drains through my use of kiss of the vampire. Needless to say I'm now fully healed.

I shrink her body as much as I'm able and gather my friends before teleporting out.

I wonder if this was punishment for getting greedy?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

If the fight was the price it was still a bargain. Some care from a necrosis carnex healed most of our wounds and a single regeneration spell fixed Kethra. Within two days we were back in perfect condition. Not too steep a price to pay.

And what I gain was simply amazing. Bidderdoo proudly completed the procedure, making the unusual umberhulk even more unique. The crystal hulk as I now thought of it gained a layer of translucent purple scales. The carapace from it's elbows down to its claws were actually completely replaced with crystal and the spikes on it's skull changed color to match.

The best part though was the crystal hulk now generated three magical items upon it's death. The skull, which still just boosted intelligence. The forearms, which became clawed gauntlets which boosted strength. And the heart, which acted as an augment crystal that added force damage to a weapon.

There were a number of other tests, seeing what other templates could be safely applied. In the end only the fire souled template was kept. Surprisingly it had a physical effect, causing the crystalline parts to subtly glow. The important part though was that it caused the skull to grant a charisma bonus as well.

Which means I have now turned a deepspawn into a literal magic item generator.

In an effort to extend that I let Bidderdoo experiment. He tried a multitude of things, but the one that worked the best was reshaping the mandibles. Now instead of a two scything blades it possessed a half dozen smaller blades that could serve as spear heads or short sword blades.

While by themselves they would be unremarkable, once a metabolic fire graft from a white dragon was added they turned black and gained the ability to channel cold damage through them. And since Geth had invented that ritual that allowed any undead he created to deal cold damage. My undead troops are going to be much better equipped.

One thing about the items is that they're all made from translucent purple crystal. Very distinctive. Although that give me an idea. A little bone shaping, the memory of the helmet from the dragon age game and a touch of creative license. Instant purple dragon themed equipment.

Now I just need to talk with Cormyr. I make a note to add them to the list of places to approach after the Godswar. Before that the dieties are way too dangerous to even chance upsetting. Which might work out for the best. Didn't the new Mystra cripple the war wizards until she was put on trial?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 7 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 1

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 4 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 5 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 7

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 7 / Arcane Duelist 2 / Bladesinger 1

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 5 / Fleshwarper 5


	12. Junta

Chapter 11 Junta

It was only once my expansion was well underway that I realized I may have been a tad over ambitious. I now have an area a little over thirty miles in radius. Which amounts too about 3000 square miles. That's a lot of territory.

The vast majority of my claimed territory was perfectly empty. Even with generous allocations of space I barely used up my original area along with an additional mile or two. Still I feel like I've finally officially established myself here.

Old Owl Well, which now that I'm feel secure in, I've officially renamed Coruscant. Sure it was just with myself since no one else will get the joke. At least I finally felt secure enough to play around a little and I still love star wars.

Not that I expected anyone to get any of the references. Hell I'm not sure if my past self would get them. After all, fifteen years is a long time to try and remember what's essentially unimportant trivia.

Still I do my best.

My first goal was Tie Fighters or rather Interceptors since I always preferred how they looked. It was pretty simple too. Just take a beholder, which isn't a problem ever since finding out mindwitnesses can be copied by a deepspawn, and then modify it.

Which immediately ran into problems. While the resulting craft would certainly be close to scale, it would be much too massive to be practical for my purposes. It would also be incredibly difficult to control, limiting how many I can field. So I needed an alternative.

And then I remembered Wave Echo Cave. The mines near Phandaelin had a smaller beholder as it's boss. And so I set off.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The mines weren't hard to find. Find the Path led me straight to it. It was enough to make me wonder just how hard people had tried before. They were a lot further that the few miles in the adventure though. Unless you consider over 40 miles short.

Which is considered almost two days travel in this world. Obviously not for me, but maybe that's why no one could find the mines before?

Clearing it out wasn't difficult. It was clear nothing had moved in since the mines were destroyed. Absent-mindedly slaughtering everything we ran into as we explored was fun. It felt more like a halloween haunted house than a dungeon. In fact I the only semi-dangerous things to be found were all bound to the mines.

The first was a flameskull. While killing it wasn't difficult at our level, it was still annoying since none of us had holy water. And since it was a guardian, it kept trying.

The second was a wraith. He was old and powerful. He was also alone and facing force weapons and spells. Killing him allowed me to take possession of his spellbooks, massive tomes made from bone that contained an amazing amount of information, including the process to create a flameskull.

I almost praise Tymora when I see Geth bow his head. I guess I should thank Velsharoon this time.

The final being was the spectator beholder. Magically bound to protect the forge of spells, it was also clearly insane. Thankfully I didn't need his mind, just his corpse.

The beholder was found next to a large bronze brazier filled with green fire. The flames radiated intense magic although it felt weaker than it should be. It couldn't permanently imbue magic into items anymore, but might still be useful. Since one of the longest steps involves soaking components in magical solutions multiple times, it should greatly reduce the time required.

Looks like I'm building an outpost already.

I don't do too much. I move a delver over and have it repair the accessible portions as well as alter the design. I divided it into three main areas for now. The crafting area centered on the Forge of Spells. A defensive area, centered on the entrance. And living areas, which were basically everything else and turned into a new myconid colony.

For now discretion was better than valor. So an illusionary wall and silence ward concealed the complex. Since the crafters were based on myself I had them all create a number of blood hulks and necrosis carnexes. Combined with glyphs they should be enough stop any minor invasion.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Once back I returned to creating my Tie Interceptors. Or rather Spellgliders since they're like locally restricted spelljammer ships. Despite being native to mechanus, the deepspawn has no trouble copying it. Since it was called a spectator, I named the undead version deathwatch.

With Bidderdoo's enthusiastic aid, it soon had most of it's eyes rearranged and replaced. The central eye was untouched, but the others were all replaced by ones facing forward. Four were for disintegration and an extra for telekinesis.

Light armor plating created the rest of the starfighter with the beholder inside the cockpit, although it was more glamers than substance. Using the rituals Geth developed knowledge for focused disintegration was uploaded.

While the disintegration eyes to act as the blasters, the telekinesis eye would be my 'tractor beam'. Although the armor was very light a hardening and augment object spell meant it provided near total cover. Additionally the central eye should reflect any spells cast at it.

Of course this didn't mean anything if they only moved two miles per hour. This was easily solved by placing a few permanent spells on the armor. Haste, Fly, Swift Wings and Wind at Back all combined to grant a new speed of 21 miles per hour.

Which still is much less than I want. Still combined with the feat run, and at least in straight lines, they could reach 105 mph.

I was going to have to make very sure to never accidentally free one. Despite being made with a create undead spell, they're actually controlled through the animate dead spell and like the blood hulk are harder to control than their hit die would indicate. A nondectection spell would probably also be needed.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Stormtroopers are much easier. Orcs were common. They also bred fast. Careful selection and the blooded one template gave me a good starting point. Sadly I can't use my gnolls since they're the wrong shape.

Every single ogrillon I have is then given a very special crossbow. Solid steel, with a reverse draw and a compound bow, it weighed a ton. It was also repeating. Due to both the weight and how powerful the bow was, enormous strength was required to wield it. And to provide a melee option, a bayonet was mounted on it.

They were then instructed that they were required to master it. Constant practice, sparring with each other and Ivy Dungeon runs becomes their life. They use other weapons and armor occasionally, but only because I want them to be fighters.

Under the violent regimen they thrive. Every week I give a test. Target shooting and single combat against a creature. The ones who fail are executed. Sure a number of them die, but the survivors are incredibly skilled given how long they've been training.

When they down to a handful I have them fight each other to the death. The last one, who had reached fifth level, was the basis for my stormtroopers. It'd be nice if they were higher, but that would take more time than I care to spend. Besides, they're supposed to be cannon fodder. Making them too powerful just feels wrong.

Still I do upload the feats the one I selected hasn't mastered. Penetrating shot, far shot, among a few others. Eventually I'll probably go back and have him train to master them. After all, uploading feats adds an extra step in the creation process.

Paired with the very carefully designed dendritic crystal armor and they were complete. Matherly had outdone himself there. The armor looked perfect. He had even managed to make it naturally white!

For a commander I needed someone with a high wisdom score. The easiest route would be to find a cleric. And that was when I remembered Cadderly, future chosen of Deneir, was still a student. He'd be perfect.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The Edificant Library is a massive stone structure that looks more like a fortress than a school or temple. Along the way I had thought of two additional targets. Danica, Cadderly's future wife and a monk, had enough willpower to repel a possession. And Chanticleer was a cleric who had resisted a vampire lord.

Speaking of which, that might be worth looking into. A master vampire is really hard to kill. Even better it's connection to blood might synergize with my own talents. And now I'm curious how my own bloodsong will change by being turned.

Sadly, Danica isn't there. Shame since she was my preferred target. Still, the other two are. Although after seeing Chanticleer, whose name turned out to be Chaunticleer, it's obvious he's too old for my purposes. Cadderly it is then.

I'm careful to only stage fake attack when he's away from the library. I also don't target him directly. No point taking a chance on pissing off a diety of knowledge. My elaborate staged ambush perfectly distracts the teenager and I stage a messy pickpocket attempt to blame for the small cut.

Thankfully Deneir doesn't immediately smite me and I resolve to steal the Chaos Curse even if I don't end up drinking it. I'll probably even help out in the war they have. Or at least provide supplies.

Cloning Cadderly went smoothly, as did the gender swap to prevent insanity. I wonder if Deneir didn't mind since he's not actually a cleric yet?

He's also very impressive stat wise. His mental scores nearly matched my own. In fact all of his ability scores are way above average. Combined with his memory, he'd make an amazing mage. Of course his past memories will get in the way there. Which means I need something stronger than a charm spell.

Mindrape is one of the first ninth level spells I had bargained with a Baatezu for. It was also one of the most disappointing. While it does allow me to completely alter someones memories, it didn't allow me to use that to grant someone levels or change their class. Instead it sort of reset their character, allowing them to rapidly retrain and switch to the class I had tried to implant.

Which meant it was pretty much worthless. Until now. I was all set on turning the female Cadderly clone into a future fighter when I had an epiphany. And realized this whole thing had been pointless. I don't need Cadderly.

I have maxed mental scores. A clone of myself combined with Mindrape will allow the clone to quickly retrain as a fighter and shift the points from leveling into wisdom. Given I was already using enchanted copies of myself as crafters I should have realized this sooner.

I name my newest altered clone Cody.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Retraining Cody isn't a fast process. Even with his memories altered I never had the skills needed. I had burned through a dozen trolls spamming limited wish looking for a method to preserve at least some magic. Ironically it seems the secret was one that the elves had already discovered.

Dread don't have a problem with magic. Dread have a problem with their minds. They can't concentrate on complex subjects, which means they can't cast spells. So I needed magic to be built into the body, like monks in a way. Looks like I'm going to be an Arcane Archer.

Of course I don't need to actually retrain all my levels. Usk had proven that when his clone had converted easily. I was just loath to create a very subpar general. Although given how reliant the troops will be on him I guess he won't be leading from the front.

At least Usk is helping to train him even if the whole meditating with sword deal seems odd. While I do have him continue training, I also clone him so I can start testing how effective he'll serve as a general.

While the clone proves to have a high enough wisdom score that I could spellstitch them with the Animate Dread spell, I fully intend to have another attempting to fully retrain.

I was just glad I figured out how to breed my own deepspawn. Using a limit wish for such a mundane purpose might be cheating, but I was well on my towards a population explosion.

The best part was that even with minimal retaining his levels still counted, which meant I could have them create war machines through necrocraft. It took quite a bit of experimented with seeing my skeletal versions of the AT-ST and AT-AT it was worth it.

The scout walker was made mostly from bone and was mostly meant to protect the deathwatch inside the cockpit. It was decently armored, as fast as a war horse and could also trample opponents. The deathwatch inside had all of its eyes replaced with ones of inflict wounds, both as an attack and to heal allied undead.

Since the thirty foot undead only had ten hit die my stormtrooper commanders could create and control five of them along with the deathwatches inside. Which matched the difficulty of controlling the nearly fifty foot AT-AT by itself.

The armored walker was actually set for support instead of assault. It was slower, had much heavier armor and could carry an enormous amount of supplies. Two light ballistas were mounted on the head and a light trebuchet on it's back.

I plan on used a pair of commanders per legion. Each borrowing Geth's staff to create four armored transports for ammo and six scout walkers to support their troops. Although I should probably create a copy of the staff just for the army.

Of course there's no rush since currently I only have a handful of dread and only one commander so far. Although given just how many troops I plan on eventually having, maybe it's a good thing I claimed so much room.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Which still leaves me with problem of what to do with my female Cadderly clone. Just letting her go might attract the attention of Deneir or another diety, so Mind Raping her into a mage will likely be her fate.

Actually this might actually be a great opportunity. My mom has been nagging at me to give her grandchildren and Bella has also been giving me signs in that direction. And half-elven children usually have trouble fitting in since they develop at a different pace. So if I was going to have one child, it would be best to make sure they had siblings.

With that in mind I made a second clone. A slight fleshsculpt and they had different colored eyes. I named them Sabriel and Liriel. I'm very curious if they will demonstrate the incredible growth rate Cadderly did. Although his being a cleric and chosen might have skewed that.

I hid their past by bringing them in with a number of orphans from Triboar and a few of the nearby towns. They were mixed and scattered across a few areas.

A half dozen were adopted by the members of my crafthall, which I didn't mind. I can easily afford to pay a for a few more crafters, which I started calling artisans to make it easier to separate from the members of the Ivy Crafthall. The majority were split between Longsaddle to basically train as longriders or stayed to be trained by Huron and Throd.

A very few, the clones among them, were picked out to become mage apprentices. The twins would be trained primarily by me partially as a cover for our future relationship. Most of the others took one as well. Matherly took two.

Even Geth took one. Although she doesn't exactly count since she was a female clone of him. Her memories were closer to a mix of Bella's and Kethra's however. A spellwarped sniper would nicely complement their abilities.

Interestingly, I found I had to reapply the fire soul template. Changing her memories had erased the effects of the ritual. Which was useful since I was giving her a different obsession. And I included myself this time. I'm not sure if I went too far with Geth or he was always asexual, but I wasn't chancing it.

I named her Mara so all three siblings had Illuskan names. I did ask for permission before I created her. Geth didn't care, but Kethra was suprisingly enthusiastic. In her words, she always wanted a little sister.

Of course all these people required space. And I didn't want anyone around my experiments. It'd be all too easy for rumors to spread and inspire adventurers to attack me. Which meant I needed to reorganize.

While my base is large, mainly due to the breeding pens, it still only occupies a small fraction of my area. Of course I didn't want to isolate my group from each other, but distance isn't much of a factor with teleportation circle. I'd have used portals, but circles were just so much more convenient.

Of course my land doesn't have any water. Which is why my first project after the moats were aqueducts and cisterns. I figured if I was going to build I should do so in steps. So radiating out along the cardinal and intermediate directions was a series of stone pipes and massive cisterns.

I marked each cistern with a small tower and a large fountain. I also placed each set of cisterns six miles apart. Which divided my territory into five concentric rings.

Of course I had only filled my smallest area, but that was going to change. Besides the towers had another purpose. Underneath each one I had a deep series of caverns excavated and set aside for a myconid colony. Once fully set up potions were going to become incredibly cheap for me.

It was a slow process, but I gradually started to shift all of my breeding and training pens into the third ring. I planned on that being dedicated towards resource production. The people were being moved to the second ring which was going to basically become my town.

As for the rest. Since I planned on creating a massive military for the upcoming wars they'll be stationed in the fifth ring. And since I did plan on eventually creating additional bases, the fourth ring will hold the portals and trade hubs. I figure the center, like In Longsaddle will house my family and experiments.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Of course with my set up of my imperial legions I now had the problem of what to do with the gnolls. I had been initially planning on using them as dread, but despite everything they refuse to fight as a disciplined unit.

Hell it look only a few months to train up a set of orcs. It'd been years and the gnolls still aren't ready. I was reluctant to discard a super strong race that I had invested so much in though.

In the end I wasn't willing to through good money after bad. Scavenging what I could I decided to use them as war beasts. Except here was no way I was going to unleash such a dangerous race on faerun.

With Bidderdoo's aid I applied the half dragon template. A long tail was added and they were mostly done.

Since their behavior is the problem, I remove it. I'll just have to settle for incredibly strong skeletons. Of course the flowing, almost organic dendritic armor colored a glossy black meant they at least looked like I had recreated xenomorphs.

At least they aren't a complete failure. Between their strength and natural weapons they deal enormous amounts of damage. More than enough to justify using them as war beasts and even as an unskilled labor force.

The commanders I have armored like predators. Well, since I can't remember all the details, looks like something a witch doctor would wear if he was in heavy armor with all braids, chains and beads.

I also decide the 'shamans' need an appropriate mount and settle on the ankylosaurus. Rather than miniature them, I have Regweld do the opposite. A forty to fifty foot dinosaur with a tail that deals as much damage as a trebuchet boulder sounds just perfect.

Maybe a dozen actual human skeletons, to serve as the shamans personal guard and complete the image I'm going for. Arm them with bows and spears and have them ride alongside the shaman.

Although that won't easy given all the spikes the fang dragon blood added. Maybe some kind of armored howdah?

Also necrosis carnexes. Since they naturally gravitate towards powerful undead they can be used free as support. Best of all they can be fitted with dendritic armor as well as long as they are put together carefully.

I also changed the spells they're imbued with. While the stormtrooper commanders have mostly evocation spells, I'm giving the shamans mostly conjuration spells. Black tentacles and cloudkill instead of fireball and wall of force. And of course a number of summoning spells along with Beget Bogun. The last spell though is the real difference.

Since this army isn't going to use dread warriors they have a free sixth level slot. And I have the perfect one. Create Darkenbeast is a fifth level thayan spell. It twists a domesticated animal into a glowing bat-winged creature reminiscent of a wyvern.

It uses a pearl and blood as components. Well I have plenty of pearls, but what happens if you actually sacrifice a wyvern? It wasn't that simple, but that became the basis for my new spell.

In the end the final spell resembled an elaborate ritual more than a simple spell. A pearl, dire bat skull, wyvern's heart and shadow dragon blood. The result I called a winged felldrake, partially to disguise it's origin.

It was a solid black undead version of a darkenbeast. It was more agile, able to fly inside a forest. A necessity for where I was going to send the shamans. It also wasn't slain by sunlight, although it took severe penalties.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Shadow dragon blood was surprisingly easy to obtain. And Harkle was the one to provide me the opportunity. Specifically it was his message to me.

It took me a second to realize what it meant. He wanted me to look over his treatise on the drow since I had been to the Underdark. I missed the Mithral Hall invasion. Damn it!

I immediately attempted to scry the Companions of the Hall, but it was too late. They were on the road. And from the looks of it making their way towards Longsaddle. Seeing them triggers a few memories. Bruenor should be alive right now, stuck inside Mithril Hall.

The Companions would split up I think, half looking for Regis. I think the others gather armies. Similar to in the Hobbit. And while I fully intended to support them, I had something more important to do. Grabbing the body of Shimmergloom the shadow dragon.

I took everyone. It took an army to free the place. While I don't intend to conquer it, I doubt the inhabitants will leave me alone.

Invisibility and silence allows us to travel unchallenged. Flight allows us to pass over the bridges and wraithform through barred gates.

It was when we arrived at the chasm the dragon had fallen into that I ran into a surprise. A red bearded dwarf gamely climbing his way out. He was heavily armed with a mithril battle axe and interestingly enough a scimitar. _I couldn't be that lucky_.

I decided to take a chance. If I was wrong we can just kill him. "Bruenor?"

The dwarf almost falls back into the chasm in surprise. I probably shouldn't have canceled all the spells when we were so close. At least he didn't try to attack us.

He looks at us suspiciously. "And who be askin?"

I am going to build an entire church dedicated to Tymora after this. I wave the others back and hold out my hand. "Pharaxes Harpell. You've met my cousin."

"And me friends?"

"As far I know alive and well." He still seems suspicious. Hmm. While most of us are using rings of sustenance Kethra always brings along snacks. "Kethra. Some food and drink."

I politely share a bit of food and the meal seems to ease his suspicions. We talked and I let him know I missed meeting him, but would support Harkle when it came time to take back the hall.

I lied about not knowing he was alive. I admitted I was just here to harvest some parts from the dragon. I invited him to rest with us for the day and promised to return him home the next day.

Bruenor grumbled a bit when he flew down before I made camp. Saying he should have just waited a bit. He stopped and stared though when I cast mordenkainen's magnificent mansion.

We actually had an easier time getting here than I anticipated. I had really thought there would be at least one large battle.

The next day is messy and gross. We harvest some of his skin, his heart and his genitals. Then a regenerate, reverse gender and resurrection was used. Before Bruenor could react the massive guillotine triggered and promptly killed it again.

And then it was back to harvesting. I kept most of it, but promised Bruenor the skull. I had no use for it. Dragons as old as Shimmergloom are too powerful to animate.

I also intended to make him something from the hide later. Maybe as a coronation gift? Something for Cattie-brie might be even better. Thoughts for later.

In the end it took us four days. Most of it was because the duergar finally realized what we were doing and constantly harassed us. Well after the first day when we slaughtered several dozen of them.

When I realized how long it was going to take I sent Bruenor back through a gate from the magnificent mansion. Ironic, since the next day I felt someone scrying on us. When I probed back I received an image of a beautiful woman in a silver dress and crown.

I cheerfully waved at who I'm assuming is Alustriel, but otherwise ignored it. Blocking it would be rude since she was just trying to help. And I can't think of anyone else who looks like that who would have reason to scry here.

What I didn't expect was for her to actually show up. I largely ignored her and let the others answer her questions. I decided it was better to avoid temptation.

Alustriel was almost a perfect target for cloning. The problem was she was already a chosen. I'm certain Mystra would notice and likely not be happy with me. Besides, as Mystra's daughter it might not even work. I still wanted to try, so I did my best to avoid her.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

As soon as I made it back to my base I checked to see where my projects stood. While none of my armies were anywhere near ready, at least a lot of the gear was finished.

Each of us received a smoke shroud and a bag of holding. We were also all given an amulet of proof against bleeding since we had all gotten too close to the blood hulks at one point or another. And then there was more specific gear for each person.

Kethra received three items. The first made her invisible and inaudible at will. The second were boots with spiderclimb and pass without trace. I guess the point was to make her an even more terrifying assassin.

The artisans must think more of a good thing was better. Bella was given two additional rings of wizardry 1 that could combine with the ones she already had. Apparently they really liked those rings since they made more.

Geth was given a two rings of wizardry 3 since he used animate dead so often. Usk was given two rings of wizardry 1 and Mara, whose retraining was going well, received a ring of wizardry 4.

And then there was my item. It was very ambitious, a combination of numerous lesser items. A focus that let me ignore material costs up to a 1000 gold. A rod of undead mastery. A weak animation charm, not strong enough to fight with, but one that let the eight snakes that composed the body to move a bit. Move enough to open their mouths and trigger their built in bags of holding. Bags which were actually armored from the inside.

Additionally each snake can swallow a wand and while holding the staff I count as wielding it. I can only access one wand at a time, but it's still very useful. The staff is also enchanted to fly as well as allow it's bearer to fly. It was fairly slow, but was mostly used to allow me to ignore the staff's immense weight.

The artisans had really come through. I was impressed given how they had been concentrated on creating alternative versions of staff of the magi and a few other items. Things like items imbued with animate objects, glassteel and other spells I know for certain cease to work after the Godswar.

I was really impressed. Then I get a look at the labs. They were enormous! Almost thirty copies of myself were running around in there. No wonder they managed to create so much.

It also meant that I didn't mind at all leaving another list of possible items to work on.

The last thing I did to prepare was to start a clone of everyone who was going, including myself. If we survived I'll cancel them. But no sense not making a back up when it's possible.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 7 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 1

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 4 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 5 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 7

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 7 / Bladesinger 3

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 2 / Fleshwarper 8 / Warshaper 1

Mara Ivy – Wizard 10 / Rogue 3

Sabriel Ivy – Loremaster 1

Liriel Ivy – Loremaster 1

Commander Cody - Wizard 15 / Fighter 1 / Arcane Archer 1 / Arcane Duelist 1


	13. Selskaryn

Chapter 12 Selskaryn

Thankfully it seems the war would be delayed for several months. The campaign was now planned to begin after the spring thaw, four months from now. Plenty of time for me to prepare. Not only will more gear be ready, but I should have at least the beginnings of an army.

Setting up the infrastructure to actually be able to generate the two armies I've designed consumes most of my time. I have several Lyres of Building made to aid my efforts and make a clone of Harghondrahn, Usk's father.

Massive barracks are erected alongside large bunkers to house and protect my deepspawn. The moats are pushed out a quarter mile in order to place two massive walls. The walls are eighty feet high and forty feet wide. There is a four hundred foot gap between the walls to provide me a killing ground. The second wall has heavy ballistas mounted every hundred feet.

The ballistas are animated and generate their own ammunition. They also fire at everything that crosses over the first wall.

The walls were placed because I recently had problems with adventurers. A group calling themselves the Company of the Riven Orb had managed to make it past all three of my moats by simply flying over them. Then they had the idiotic idea to just kill and loot everything.

I lost a handful of deepspawn before Matherly caught them. There were eight of them and none really that powerful. At least not enough to interest me.

What did interest me was the fact that they were hired. Apparently they were in the area because of some ruins commonly known as the dungeon of the ruins. They had been hired by the Talonmist family though to deal with me.

I had known about the Talonmist family for a while. They've been feuding with the Harpells for the past hundred years. Largely unsuccessfully so far. We had been mostly just ignoring them. Clearly something will need to be done about them.

It ends up turning into a raid. We slip into the town of Westbridge and easily find the Talonmist home. It's a tower, but one made of wood. They really are pathetic. No wonder we've never taken them seriously.

We had assassinated most of them before I realized what was missing. If they're all mages, where are the spellbooks? And why aren't there wards everywhere?

I make sure to interrogate the next one we run into. For a member of a family in what they keep calling a blood feud, he's remarkably weak. I don't even have to torture him before he starts talking. Although the blood stains and bodies might have helped.

His family used to be part of a much larger organization of sorcerers. The Talonmists had broken off and gone public. The duel that started this whole mess was supposed to win them recognition and inspire others to join them.

Instead they were humiliated. Their leader was killed. And the organization had cut all ties with them.

I'd sympathize, except they had managed to annoy me. They had cost me time. And that was unforgivable.

As we flew away from the burning tower I could only sigh. At least the stupid feud is finally over. I glance at the handful of red vials I'm holding. Even if the family isn't. At least not exactly.

For all their faults, the family really was beautiful. And I was essentially starting a harem. Sort of. Sometime I think I've been breeding monsters too long. I'm beginning to look at everything from that viewpoint.

Problem is it isn't exactly wrong. Especially given the Talonmist family history. A sorceror breeding project sounded fascinating. It's already given me a half dozen ideas.

Something to save for later. Right now I have a portal to explore.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The creation of my second army was actually prompted by to my study of the portal drake I had killed. One of it's abilities allowed it to see through portals it touches. Including the one in Longsaddle. They can also bypass all restrictions on a portal when they use it. At least for itself. Not that it delayed me long.

So using its blood as a homing beacon I teleported over to where the Longsaddle portal ended up.

It was not a nice place. An ancient forest with towering gray barked trees it was surprisingly empty. A large factor was no doubt the large number of small settlements found inside. Drifting around as an invisible cloud I spent a few days searching the area. I also used location spells to aid me.

What I found was that wood elves lived in tiny family groups primarily high up in the trees. They weren't very numerous, but they patrolled the majority of the woods. Humans seemed to be divided between rangers and loggers. In both cases they operated in small groups.

Both races were spread out due to the hobgoblins. They only had a few fortresses, but they were large, well built and made from imported stone. They're also aggressive, constantly sent out large raiding parties.

While the elves harass them occasionally the hobgoblins seem pretty much in charge. Worse they seem to be closely allied to more of them in the nearby mountain since I can see a fairly steady stream of them along crudely fashioned roads.

The portal itself was actually partially buried under leaves and tree roots. A grove of weirwoods grew all around it and were bordered by a perfect circle of the odd grey trees. But what convinces me to invade now is a grove of young fey cherry trees.

Highly magical, they regulate weather around them. The wood is also useful for crafting, easily accepting most enchantments. And they can grow hundreds of feet if there is enough room. Saplings are worth thousands of gold and can only be purchased in very few areas, almost all of them elven.

I had looked for one before, but the saplings were much too large for me to teleport with. A portal though could handle one easily.

And so I decided to build an army and seize control of the forest for myself. Of course that's all delayed now since the campaign to take Mithral Hall is about to began. It wouldn't do to miss out on the fighting after having rescued Bruenor.

Ironic that my preparations for one war directly led me to another.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Streamlining my military production set up was pretty easy. Since I was pretty set on what I was currently producing and was now using deepspawn I could downsize several of my breeding populations.

I kept a few for future use, but my third ring might seem pretty empty without the majority of the orcs, kobolds and gnolls. The only group I don't cull are the derro. Although with the blood samples from the Talonmists I'm considering it. That couldn't be further from the truth.

My dragons were growing rapidly. White, fang, shadow and since the lizardfolk came through for me black dragons. Of course they aren't developing naturally. I clip their wings when they hatch and then feeblemind them while growing. They're essentially very slow growing magical beasts.

I still haven't heard back from Sundabar, but I can afford to be patient. Although I wouldn't mind speeding things up, sadly it turns out wyrmlings can't survive the stress of a haste spell. Even the copied white dragon isn't strong enough to survive it.

Regweld and Bidderdoo are both beside themselves with joy at the samples they have access too. The groups that were left were actually mostly for them. They needed test subjects and using humans came with potential problems.

And it was easier to distract them that way. There was absolutely no way I was going to going after metallic dragon eggs. There was just too many ways that would end badly.

Thankfully one of the items my artisans had finished was a rechargable staff of limited wish. Using it allowed me to produce new deepspawn fast enough to keep up with the bunker production. Another few weeks and I'll be able to generate a steady stream of troops.

Of course it never hurts to soften up the enemy ahead of time. It took a copy practically aging himself to senility, but I was able to successfully create a new version of needlefolk. Advancing it by increasing it's hit die and then including in the dungeon bred template was fairly simple compared to everything else. Even giving it a touch of fast healing wasn't too difficult.

It was incorporating fang dragon blood without altering it's personality that was the hardest part. I didn't want to unleash something that would eventually end up fighting me. No, I wanted to preserve their extremely passive nature.

Nearly as hard though was reversing their attitude towards elves while doing the same. While the detection part wouldn't matter, the friendly part would mean they would cooperate if asked. And if targeted by command plants, very unlikely to resist.

But since I can't spellstitch Command Plants onto the commander I have to order a tattoo added to him that allows him to do so once a day. I can think of countless other spells, but in the end decide to only add glyph of warding. After all the commanders aren't really the focus of my armies.

At least now the shamans can actually control the needlefolk. Now it was just a matter of planting the abundance of seeds I had created. Just in case though, I plant a few in my moat. No point having to redo all that work.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Since I was basically waiting for my forces to build up I decided to explore the Dungeon of the Ruin. After all if a mid-level group of adventurers could clear it, it should be a nice vacation for my group. Well, unless they would have all died in there. Which is unlikely since the place has been cleared several time before.

Once again find the path saves the day, leading me directly to the dungeon. It also leads us through a flock of gargoyles and a pair of leucrotta. Which just confirms this was the right idea. I've already gotten two new samples for Regweld.

It feels a bit odd to be adventuring for new specimens rather than treasure. Once I get there I pause. I'm not really sure what the draw is. The tower is basically two stories and that barely.

I'd dismiss it except my spell is still active. In fact it's pointing... downwards?

Well, now I feel dumb. I guess there really is always something more to find. A pair of watchghosts attempt to stop us, but they're easily defeated. Who on earth makes ghosts out of fighters and then doesn't supply them with ghost touch equipment? At least use a monk if a caster isn't available.

The wild magic zone is actually fascinating and convinces me to build an outpost here. I know the rest of my family will absolutely love to study this. When I find a functioning portal in the back I immediately decide it can't wait.

We make camp using a magnificent mansion as I teleport back to grab the portal drake and several artisans. I needed a fortress built here as fast as possible. Its annoying, but we end up forced to stay nearby due to the watchghosts. While it isn't hard to kill them, they respawned every hour or so. The constant ambushes were wearing us down.

Unfortunately it seems the rules were wrong about the effect antimagic field has on ghosts. While they can't manifest inside it, they certainly aren't trapped. Thankfully a wall of force still worked.

We leave the next morning, the ghosts still trapped within the now permanent wall of force. I'll deal with them later. For now I have a dungeon to explore!

I take stairs since the portal still seems risky. Teleporting blind just sounds like I'm asking to get hurt. There's a solid iron door, which a metalshape fixes enough to be opened. The air is much warmer than I would have thought. Maybe there's a hotspring here like in Wave Echo?

Skeletons. That's...disappointing really. The hallway splits. The right ends in a barracks. And more skeletons. This place is pretty empty. At least I found a decanter of endless water hidden inside a fountain. Looks like I'm not the first to have that idea.

Left is better. An armory that holds wreckage and then the jail. There I find two morgh trapped inside one of the cells. I leave them for now. They've given me an idea I want to try later on.

I even run into an alchemy lab. It's massive, and with the layout of all the work stations, intended as a classroom. Seems like this place used to be a school. The supply closet is actually still full. This place really is undisturbed.

Really glad I learned Netherese or Lorass now. The next room has a ghost who appeared and gave a warning in the long dead language. He was actually really polite. It seems he wants to be laid to rest. He's stuck while his last task isn't complete. And it's a doozy.

Bazim-Gorag. A slaad lord, which means epic level. That is one hell of a challenge.

It seems the slaad lord had attacked the school and been trapped deep within. A dried out well I had passed earlier actually led to the prison. Thankfully he was intimately familiar with Bazim-Gorag and knew not only his powers, but his vulnerabilities.

We bargain and in the end accept a very carefully worded geas placed on us in return for basically everything. If we succeed in killing the slaad within a week he'll stay for up to a week to record everything he knows. Secrets of the former school, magical rituals and recipes, and anything else I can think of.

I am more than satisfied with the deal. What he had missed was that all of the guardians in the way had one weakness. They couldn't attack a member of the school. And since I just took it over, I declared myself a student. That and wearing the symbol of the school was enough to count.

I tested it with a helmed horror, and I definitely was going to learn how to make those, and it completely ignored me. I leave then. I have a lot of preparations and much time. Magnificent mansion and gate is quickly turning into my favorite combination of spells.

With the reinforcements I gathered we went back, even if it did feel odd adventuring a copy of myself. At the base of the well we ran into a bodak, one of the guardians the ghost had warned me about. It ignored us. Yet another secret I wanted. I've never even heard of a method of permanently binding undead. And it is permanent since none of the undead I'm seeing are the kind to be naturally bound.

Not everything ignores me. An enormous patch of russet mold occupies a series of small rooms and is protected by a tribe of vegepygmies. The two foot plant men do there best to kill us, but there efforts are pathetic. Isolated as they are they didn't even have spears or clubs, reduced to biting and scratching.

Its much hotter down here and given what I'm headed towards I don't have any fire spells. Negative energy works though. I take a sample just in case, but make sure to wipe out the rest. I'm not willing to leave a hostile element between me and escape, no matter how weak.

When I find the next passage down I run into my first surprise. A half dozen normal ghosts linger here. Former mages from the school, they all demand to be buried properly so they can pass on. I easily make another deal, accepting a geas to bury them after they help me against Bazim-Gorag and linger for three days after. It's not like the geas will hurt me if I die.

The next level proves their usefulness. The swarm of ghosts eagerly subdue the nine headed hydra and beholder guarding the last vault. I barely had to do anything. And of course I shrink down and store both bodies. I wonder how they didn't starve while down here. Another question to ask later.

And then we arrive at the last room we stop at the door, which is covered in glowing runes. Until we pass through we're completely safe. I set up the standard camp just in case and then cast every fire protection spell I know on the group.

Thoroughly buffed, we enter in the company of a four deathwatches and six blood hulks. They won't pose a threat to him, but they'll be enough to protect us.

The room is large, but there isn't much room since a lava pit fills the center of the room. A large polished obsidian mirror hangs on the far wall. From what the ghost had told me, it was yet another portal.

I as expecting many things when I finally faced the slaad lord. A massive demon, an elemental force of destruction. A sinisterly polite man who looked like he was related to the Talonmists was not one of them. "We have been waiting for you."

His voice was odd, like two people speaking at the same time. It also seemed to shift in pitch, which was a bit disconcerting. Not enough to make me consider bargaining with him though. After all I had already made my deal. Besides, slaad are chaotic. It was very unlikely he'd prove trustworthy.

Instead of answering I started casting. As a being so heavily focused on fire, Bazim-Gorag was vulnerable to cold damage. So I blasted him the strongest cold spell I possessed. An invisible, twinned, empowered cold version of a scorching ray slammed into him without warning. When it evaporated without hurting him I felt like cursing. Sometimes I really hate magic resistance.

Everyone had started casting when I did. Darts, spears and beams of ice all sought him out. He resisted them all with ease. At least Kethra's darts still struck him. At least the force darts did. The others just glanced off his skin. I probably should have been the one to cast greater magic weapon. Apparently a +3 bonus isn't enough to injure him.

The slaad despite his wounds, looked bored. Which made sense when they started closing. And of course he has fast healing or regeneration. Then he grinned and shifted.

There was the monstrous form I expected. Bazim-Gorag stood ten feet tall with a hunched posture. I'd say he looked a lot like an ettin crossed with a toad due to his two heads. And then there was the fact that he was bright orange.

Naruto would love him. Funny the odd things that pop into your head when your surprised. Then he set himself on fire and suddenly I was reminded of a balrog. At least there wasn't any chasms.

In the end the undead help saved us. The blood hulks moved forward to meet his charge and even though his first flurry of strikes tore one of the blood hulks into burning chunks the others held him back. Walls of fire suddenly wreathed the room, but our protections held.

The beholders deflected his dispelling attempts, giving us another chance. They also blasted him with their eye rays. We were all shocked when every one struck and damaged him. Now I'm regretting not using ones with disintegrate.

The slaad immediately retreated through the mirror. I sent in the undead first before following behind. No point giving him time to prepare.

When we stepped through it was to see a hilarious sight. The blood hulks had tackled the slaad and without room to maneuver the deathwatches were pounding him with their beams. We happily joined in although Kethra proved to be the most effective by far.

When he died it was in a massive fiery explosion that sadly finished off the undead. The rest of us were fine. I really love my undead minions.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The next week was busy. I pulled in my entire party and even included other members of my family. While most of them were still busy with the books I brought back from the illithid city Harkle and my mother were eager to be included.

The first three days were exhausting as we attempted to thoroughly question all of the ghosts and make sure it was all recorded. After the burials though it was much easier with only the final ghost left.

After making sure I had the things I considered most important I left the task with the others. I was busy organizing my newest outpost.

The first thing I did was redesign most of the ruins, turning it once more into a massive tower to take advantage of the portals. I wasn't about to repeat their mistakes. Defense in depth was clearly needed.

So I set up four slender towers placed at each corner of the main tower. They would be primarily defensive in nature. Since it turns out the Selskaryn binding rituals don't allow me to do much more then permanently place creatures as stationary guardians I went for range.

I went all out. The towers were slender, only about twenty feet wide and were basically a number of room stacked on top of each other. Each room had several arrow slits and housed a death tyrant. That many eye beams should be able to hold off any number of trolls or orcs. Only people on the slender roads I build are not targeted.

Since the beams have a range of a one hundred fifty feet, I build the ring two hundred feet out. It consisted of eight identical towers except the were only sixty feet high instead of the 180 the others were.

A fifteen foot thick, fifty foot seamless stone wall wrapped around the outer ring of towers. It would keep people outside from being attacked and create a better killzone. The tops were left exposed so flyers could still be shot down. A massive gatehouse was the only break in the wall. It was flanked by two fifty foot towers.

Despite all of that, the true defense of what I was calling Taris was underground. Since there was already several levels set up, I just expanded them. I was easily able to add additional levels between the existing ones. They had really liked burying things.

The name seems appropriate. Not only did it keep with my star wars theme, but you did spend an awfully long time underground in the the game.

I fully intended to set up something like my trade ring here. The center tower was once more going to house a school. Not quite sure what it'll teach, but that's for later. Besides the wild magic zone is still there.

I also started brainstorming on what forces to station here. I was determined to create a different army for each of my bases in order to have a variety of options. Obviously it was going to involve death tyrants in some way. They're too powerful to field many of them though.

The forces here would need to match the terrain as well as function underground since I plan on using them as part of my contribution to Bruenor's campaign. I also plan on letting this place be used as a forward base in the spring.

In the end I decide to use the weird spider-like creature I found on the way out of the mind flayer city. Regweld had been playing around with it and succeeded in crossing it with a sword spider. He'd gone farther and included fang dragon to the mix.

Sometimes I think he's obsessed with fang dragons. Maybe he thinks the more dangerous it is the cuter? He may as well have been named Hagrid. The final product was a large armored head bearing a large, vicious pair of mandibles and sprouting ten long legs that ended in serrated blades.

I told Regweld to get with Bidderdoo and do what they could to make it even more dangerous. Parts of the dungeonbred template, such as the enlarged natural weapons, come to mind.

Meanwhile I was designing the rest of the army. What I came up with I found hilarious although I doubt many others will. Nyloth Tanor'thal, former weapons master for the house of Tanor'thal, and who just so happened to be in the compound I had cleared out in Undermountain.

While it was possible I'll find a better corpse later on, the fourteenth level fighter is more than enough for me right now. Although I do make a note to search through the bodies when the drow invade Mithril Hall.

The dark elf series was one of my favorites and I remember there are at least two other drow weapon masters who die during the failed invasion. I still remember them mostly because I still liked the sound of their names. Dantrag and Uthegental. The Boba Fetts of the drow series. Memory really is a fickle thing.

I immediately pull Bidderdoo from the spider project. This is much more important. I have my newest basis for a dread grafted with bone versions of the wakizashi's he was used to wielding. Made from fang dragon and sword spider parts their organic nature means the deepspawn will be able to copy them.

I also have them grafted with both chitin plating and shadow dragon scales. While the scales don't provide resistance to any energy, it will allow the dread to blend into shadows automatically, making them much stealthier than normal. And since they're supposed to be stealthy, I have all their hair removed. That it'll offend any drow who run across one is just icing on the cake.

Of course, after adding in climbing legs, antennae for tremorsense and a few other grafts I'm not sure if it's even possible to recognize the base creature was a drow.

A group of the dread backed by a dozen or so of the creatures I had taken to calling blade beasts is enough to be considered a significant military force. Add in a white dragon skeleton for burrowing and as a mount along with a death tyrant for magical support and I'm more than satisfied.

I'm going to be hard pressed to surpass or even match this army with my others. And since I now have three of them, they need names.

It seems fitting to call the star wars based army or group the Sith. Which probably means I should include a few lightning spells on the commanders.

And fitting the location as well as my sense of irony the army I'm preparing for sending through the forest I'm calling Gray Knights after the warhammer 40k faction. And as for this group? I ended up calling them Drukhari since Dark Eldar would likely give the wrong impression.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I created my first portal in the fourth ring. It was linked to a second one I had set up in Longsaddle, within the same compound I had hidden the Gray Forest portal. When it activated the first time I felt like cheering. My trade hub was finally beginning!

My second one went up not long afterwards. The lore from the Selskaryn ghosts had greatly expanded what I could do with portals. And since I still planned on using my Coruscant as my central base I was linking it to Taris. Just as I would to the Gray forest once I established myself there.

In the meantime though I was going to test out my troops. Before I committed them to any large scale action I wanted a handle on their performance. After all, they aren't very bright.

So I was going to start gating small groups of them to areas no one cared about and clearing them out. While everyone was too mobile near Longsaddle I knew another area intimately.

Baldur's Gate had been my favorite computer game for years and even a decade later I had occasionally picked it up again. If there was one area of faerun I knew it was the area around Candlekeep.

Sure it was a decade early, but I doubt it'll make that much difference. After all I'm hunting settlements. They shouldn't be hard to find either. At least not with an aerial view.

To help I had a small boat layered with the same spells I used on my spellgliders. Since they target a creature I animated the ship. I also included an invisibility sphere. No use warning my targets.

All of my troops did well, wiping out villages of goblins, kobolds and other creatures. I even tested them against a few bandit camps. And of course I made sure to clear out the gnoll castle. I even captured a number of xvarts after I saw them casting several spells I didn't recognize.

The final test was Durlag's Tower.

I fully expected the slew of traps that slaughtered the troops. Durlag's Tower had been a pain from what I remembered because of them. Antimagic fields and brute strength let us bypass doors and the need for special keys.

And as for the inhabitants. We killed them all. Sure we had true seeing on, but that was to check each other. As far as I was concerned everything within was fair game. It didn't even slow me down when it turns out we really did wipe out an adventuring band.

I didn't expect much loot. Despite the rumors of entire rooms filled with gold there wasn't that much treasure there in the game. I had always figured he had ended up spending it on all the trap. Traps and apparently golems. After all golems are hideously expensive. So far I've run into at least half a dozen flesh golems, a pair of stone golems and four iron golems. Which is just ridiculous.

Not like I needed the gold anyway. I still had the hoard from the slaad lord. Since I tend to generate my own resources I've mostly been using it to up the bounties on new specimens. So I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found.

Seems dopplegangers have taken over part of the tower. They just can't get to the rest. Somehow though they managed to assemble over a dozen weaker helmed horrors. Despite none of them being casters they were halfway through making another one too.

I'm incredibly interested in what was going on and had no problem spending a few extra days interrogating them as well as analyzing the items.

The answers leave me stunned. I can now see how they eventually managed to take over the rest of the tower.

They have an anvil of darkness. A near artifact level item and one that does become an artifact after the Godswar, it's one of the few methods for manufacturing constructs. Even crazies, it's essentially free. For the price of a normal suit of armor you get what's basically a lesser helmed horror.

The dopplegangers were planning on doing what I had just done. Just flood the tower with bodies.

I immediately go back and grab the remains of the iron golems. As the key component in creating an anvil of darkness I wasn't going to leave so much as a scrap behind. I'll need it if I'm going to buiild more anvils.

The process to create a doomguard is slow even if essentially free. Having as many as possible is important. Looks like I know what I'm going to do with the rest of my gold. Even if it does feel weird to build iron golems just to harvest them. Thankfully the other parts are either cheap, golembane scarabs, or free, specific spells.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 8 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 1

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 5 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 6 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 8

Mara Ivy – Wizard 7 / Rogue 3 / Spellwarped Sniper 3

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 7 / Bladesinger 4

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 1 / Fleshwarper 10 / Warshaper 1

Commander Cody - Wizard 12 / Fighter 1 / Arcane Archer 3 / Arcane Duelist 2


	14. Assumptions

Chapter 13 Assumptions

Fifteen anvils. That's how many anvils of darkness I ended up with. And that's including the one I found.

It'd be more but I wasted quite a bit of the iron finding out just how small I can make the anvil and still have it function. Sadly 150 lbs seems to be the minimum. For the first time I lament the fact that the iron golems were so small. Why couldn't they have been full size? I'd easily have over a hundred anvils now.

That many anvils equates to less than a single doomguard every week. Which sadly is not remotely enough for my purposes. Looks like I'll be making more iron golems. And since weight goes up exponentially with size I think I'm going to have the artisans try for one at least twenty-five feet high. At least with the Forge of Spells I won't have to wait months or even years for it to be done.

It's actually because of them that I decide to switch things up. When I was out testing my troops I was drawn to a large area east of Durlag's Tower. It was an enormous expanse of grasslands that stretched for hundreds of miles.

It was largely unpopulated too. The only things living there were all bandits. It was easy to tell since they had no method of sustaining themselves. No crops, no animals. I was more than happy to wipe out a few.

There were dozens of little wooden forts though. Which is what gave me the idea. A little searching let me know it was called the Greenfields and it was completely unclaimed. Amn is blocked by the Cloudpeaks and Snakewoods. Everyone else is pretty much a city state and can't project enough force to seize that much territory.

Well my sith army is pretty much ideally deployed in very flat terrain. However aside from a few places the terrain around Longsaddle and my base is definitely not flat. So I'm going to conquer the Greenfields.

Best of all I can build proper roads made from stone and gravel. A few guard towers and some mild tolls and it should be generating a profit almost immediately. Not that I need money, but economic leverage is always nice to have.

I don't actually have a sith army yet. I had been waiting until Cody had finished his retraining. Unfortunately it had slowed down since he had exhausted what his training mummy knew.

However I start my move anyway. After all, all it's going to do is get in the way of a few bandits. And they don't count. I can worry about seizing territory later on.

I take the same team of artisans that rebuilt Taris. I keep the construction discrete for now. While no group of bandits can possible pose a threat, my worry is adventurers.

They have a tendency to explore anything new. Worse if any of my undead are discovered I'll likely be labeled as evil and become a valid target. Which would just be annoying to deal with.

So while I have a modest tower on the surface most of my construction efforts are directed underground. A massive bunker is being constructed to house the deepspawn needed to produce the troops. I also decided this place was going to be called Korriban. After all where else would sith come from?

The soil here is very rocky, which slows it down until I gate in a delver. I really want this finished quickly. The rest of the week is a repeat of Taris. The difference is I need something to defend my place quickly.

Since I didn't want to repeat myself I looked for something different. I ended up deciding to go with crypt chanters for one simple reason. The music they play to drain creatures can sound like anything. I order all of mine to play the Imperial March.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

With a decent defense now in place I no longer need to hide. Since don't remember what Korriban looked like I go with the temple on Yavin. The circular buttressed ziggurat is definitely distinctive.

I make the bottom floor fifty feet tall to make sure the AT-ATs had enough room. The next two tiers are of similar height although they are also internally divided into multiple floors. Essentially that and those two tiers were going to be designed to function primarily as barracks. Walkers on the first floor, soldiers on the second and spellgliders on the third.

A legion is now made up of up of two commanders who will control three AT-ATs, five AT-STs and eight spell gliders. And of course a thousand stormtroopers. My enormous fortress will be capable of housing twenty four of them. It helps that they don't need more than storage space and hallways.

The organized layout even makes it easy to manage to stormtroopers. The halls are all lettered, as are the sections and rooms are numbered. Each stormtrooper is given a code when made. The code tells them where to go if ordered to their room as well as where to stand or which patrol to join. Very organized. And it wasn't like it was hard to make the base creature memorize all that before refeeding it to the deepspawn.

I have the structure made from stone, but really want a more exotic visual look. So I once again turn to dendritic crystals. It's amazing how easily they can be used to solve my problems. After all armor is a pretty precise and intricate piece of work. Doors and windows are much simpler. And just large tiles are easiest of all.

So now the entire structure is plated in large, perfectly square crystal tiles that are colored the light gray I associate with the empire. The windows are just transparent panels, while the doors are heavily tinted black. Lighting is accomplished with permanent light spells behind very slightly blue tinted transparent panels.

Realizing just how alien the glossy smooth surfaces are, including the stormtrooper armor, I have dendritic armor fashioned for both types of walkers. It wouldn't do to ruin the uniform image. Besides it does protect them better.

I also invent a spell that I call Encore that essentially automatically dispels any silence spell in its area. I then discretely place a number of them within glyphs so that the crypt chanters can trigger them as needed. Can't have adventurers waltz in with just a silence spell after all.

I have all the spellgliders now stationed there. Which sadly is only four. However I do have a dozen commanders. They only have one or two stormtroopers each but at least they have their full complement of walkers.

Since I don't want to have to return until the army is finished being generated, a task that will likely take a year or so, I decide to add even more defenses in the form of watchghosts.

I don't make the same mistake the Selskaryn did. I have copies of Geth made into my watchghosts. Of course to keep him in theme I have him dress as a sith acolyte before converting him. While the second level doesn't have any entrances, both the bottom and third level have six. I place a pair of watchghosts to guard each of them

Which should be plenty of firepower. Besides I left orders they can still create blood hulks, they just need to make sure their armor is styled similarly. I already left the replica of Geth's staff in the middle of the base, although it's more like a small obelisk. Apparently it's cheaper that way.

A pale child is permanently bound to the obelisk as well. While she won't be able to actually fight her aura will enhance the necromantic spells the watchghosts prepare.

I have plans for roads and resource generation. Even an idea of opening a branch of the Ivy Crafthall. All of that will wait until after my barracks are filled though.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

If I ever thought I had managed to fly under the radar it was quickly dispelled when I returned. I arrived to find the remains of a green dragon that was easily a hundred feet long laying on top of the ruins of my keep.

I don't know what just happened, but I supposed I shouldn't be too surprised. After all, unlike the other two based I never set up serious anti-air defenses in Coruscant. I suppose my party made up for that, at least when supported by all the artisans working here, especially seeing what they've done.

I snap out some orders and immediately the preserved corpse is dragged off to be restrained and cursed. Additionally it'll be harvested. While I already have black dragon parts, color variety is never a bad thing.

Once we're secure underground I revive the dragon and began the interrogation. It wasn't easy. Despite numerous curses, mind fog and even a few poisons she resisted revealing anything. It probably didn't help that I removed all of limbs beforehand. Pulling her teeth was easier than extracting any information.

Even reading her mind didn't help much. Dragons just think differently enough that it was all too easy to get lost. In the end I was forced to drain her willpower until I was able to cast a mindrape spell on her.

What I learned made me want to hit myself. The dragon was known as Old Gnawbones and she was the absolute ruler over quite a bit of territory, including where I had set up shop. Worse she had been keeping an eye on me ever since I had begun developing a reputation.

And if she had done that, it was likely she wasn't alone. I wonder just how many mages, dragons and other things were actively trying to spy on me?

Not for the first time I bless my sense of paranoia. It was because of that I doubted they know too much. I've been using mind blank constantly ever since I could cast it. I've also layered every privacy spell I know on everyplace I own.

The weak point was my party. They weren't protected by mind blank and since they were often with me there was a way to track me. She had taken the opportunity of my absence to try and raid Coruscant.

The reason? She suspected I owned the Moaning Diamond, an artifact that allowed enormous amounts of earth shaping. I can even see it. Since she couldn't see the artisans due to their use of mind blank, all scrying revealed was entire building rapidly assembling themselves.

That's not good. Artifacts are sought by pretty much everyone, including countries. I wasn't set up to repel full scale invasions. And my actions in the greenfields will not have helped.

For now I can depend on my artisans, but I'm going to need to arrange more protection. Too bad I can't afford to keep the dragon. I just can't chance someone undoing the mindrape and having her trying to hunt me down later on. It's worse since she's too powerful to even be turned into a skeleton.

Still I had a plan. I was going to add a bell onto every water tower. Inside the tower I was going to bind a doomsphere that can only emerge after the bell rings. I'd have done something similar before, but mindwitnesses can't be made into ghosts. Still not sure why.

In the meantime I need to do something about her organization. I doubt they'll be happy I killed their employer. I should also loot her hoard.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

If I had harbored any delusion about the entire affair being a mistake they were swiftly dispelled when I caught two different bands of adventurers breaking in over the following week. The first group were survivors from the Gnawbones gang. I was actually surprised they even made it past the moats.

It was the second group that surprised me. Called the Softclaws they worked for a steel dragon in Neverwinter. Odd since metallic dragons are usually good.

They had been informed that there were several young dragons in the area. They were sent to kill them all and bring back the bodies.

I interrogate them thoroughly and mercilessly. I then started dismantling her network.

One of the items the band had carried were an odd metal disk. It radiated as highly magical. The adventurers had mentioned the Nevertokens were given to all of her agents. Analysis indicated one of it's powers was point in the direction of the closest token.

While it means her agents can find each other for aid, it means a sufficiently motivated enemy can use it to hunt them down. And I had plenty of motivation.

She had attempted to sabotage literally years of work! I didn't even have back ups for most of the projects here. Although that was going to change. I was already building a large vault in Taris to hold back ups of all my projects. Another was being set up in Longsaddle, which I probably should have done much earlier.

I didn't even do the hunting personally. No, a rogue Thayan group suddenly turned terrorist. They randomly attacked and spouted nonsense about ruling dragons and showing the Cult of the Dragon their place. They also just so happened to hunt down a majority of the Softclaws.

While that happened I was busy arranging to kill the dragon. A passage from a journal mentioned sighting a steel dragon in the Neverwinter woods. She had killed a pair of wyverns that had recently tried to nest in the southern portion of the Crag mountain range.

Wyverns were something I had in abundance.

Over the next few weeks I discretely seeded several areas with pairs of wyverns. Wyvern Tor once more had their namesake. As did a half dozen other places. And finally I placed no less than three pairs among the southernmost Crags.

I guess she needed some stress release. That or she really didn't like wyverns. They weren't in place more than a week before my alarms went off.

A few seconds later I was ready. It was amazing how tirelessly a deepspawn copy can just stand and wait. Skin tingling from all the spells on me I teleported right above her.

Immediately I cast timestop and started casting as many delayed blast fireballs as I could. When the timestop ended all the fireballs went off. The enormous explosion almost caused me to miss as my lightning ring went off, sending twin bolts of lightning down at her.

Most of the spells failured to penetrate her scales, but enough did to really hurt her. I calmly cast another lightning ring on myself as the dragon twisted and breathed.

I was prepared for it. Neutralize poison and energy immunity acid protected me completely. I couldn't help but grin at her look of shock. Then I emptied my portable hole and dropped four mindwitnesses next to her.

They rained down beams of destructive energy on her as my lightning rings went off again. Seriously injured she managed to dive far enough to teleport away. It didn't matter. One of the mindwitnesses had managed to snag a chunk of flesh still dripping blood with it's telekinesis. Now it was only a matter of time.

I teleport back and give out my orders. Scrying fails to reveal her, meaning she's behind wards. Since I can still feel the resonance from the vial of blood she's still vulnerable. Attacking inside Neverwinter though is risky.

Screw it. I hand one of my copies a large tome filled with exactly one hundred sets of explosive runes. Then I have a dozen lightning rings cast. His instructions are simple. Bloodwalk, awaken blood, release all of the lightning rings so they shoot out bolts in every direction, and cast a quickened fireball.

I teleport to above the city to keep watch. The explosion should be enormous. It should also give me enough time to sneak in and steal her body.

It didn't quite work. A building did vaporize while lighting flooded out, tearing down several other buildings. From the roars though, the dragon was very much alive.

Come on! She's only huge size. There is no way she has that much magic resistance!

I teleport back when I see her notice me. Looks like it's time to stop hiding. I gather my party. I also order all of my artisans to assemble. I'll interrupt several projects but I am not going to leave the dragon to try again. We all cast fly and disguise ourselves as mandalorians.

Once more I teleported, following her blood, this time in an invisibility sphere. The artisans are left behind waiting my telepathic command. I was surprised to find her still there. Maybe she was hurt worse than I thought?

She wasn't alone. A woman leaned against the side of the dragon along with Elminster? The hell was Elminster doing here? I sent a quick message to have my copies wait a bit longer and cast project image.

"And just what is the famed sage of Shadowdale doing here?" Huh, he seems shocked I'm talking. It's clear he's in charge. While the others tensed they didn't attack.

"What reason have you for waging war in the midst of the city of Neverwinter?"

Oh fuck that. "She sought to drag our fight here, not I. If she wasn't such a coward Neverwinter would have been fine."

Hmm. She growled but didn't attack. She's either really hurt or trusts Elminster completely. "Why are you protecting this thing. She attacks me, hides inside a city, effectively taking them hostage, and you protect her?"

"That's not true! You tried to ambush her!" The woman speaks up for the first time. From the way her fingers twitch it's likely she's a mage.

I grin. Then I toss down two Nevertokens. It gives away my position, but the spell was about to end anyway. "These were taken from thieves and assassins on my territory."

I kept talking,ignoring the reflexive protests. "I read their mind and they identified themselves as Softclaws. They were ordered there."

They denied everything. _Obviously they would never do something like that_. Really?

I was about to order the artisans to attack when Elminster spoke up."Perhaps we could discuss matters at a more peaceful location."

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I now feel slightly bad. Very slightly.

The dragon, whose known as the Dreaming Dragon, somehow never realized I controlled that area. Somehow she missed all the buildings and even the giant wall. She just knew chromatic wyrmlings were there.

Her agents just didn't care. They just followed her orders.

So a well meaning idiot. I guess you shouldn't kill people for being stupid. Or at least Bella doesn't think so. Most of my group doesn't care. My influence has given them an us versus them mentality.

Since she's one of the good guys I should make sure we're not enemies. I introduce myself. Pharaxes Harpell, Lord of Coruscant. You know, the place your guys broke into.

Bella kicks me. Then introduces herself and glares at the others until they follow suit.

I guess I'm sorry about killing all her people. Her enemies are likely going to be mine. Evil people hate everyone.

I apologize and then turn over all forty of the Nevertokens my artisans have collected. I'm even nice enough to explain just how I used them to hunt down most of her network.

She doesn't look too happy. Bella kicks me again.

As a parting gift, mostly because Elminster is there, I give her a bag of pearls I summoned. It's easy to make impressive displays like that when you have a mindwitness to coordinate for you. I also promise to make a donation to the city for the damage I caused.

Elminster makes a mention of facing justice. I counter with the fact that at least I never resorted to outright terrorism to force someone to fight me. Like he did in Aglarond. He drops the subject. Bella kicks me.

I don't know why. I hate hypocrites!

To change to subject I salute Elminster for how fast he can move. He really lives up to his hype. After all, another ten seconds and he'd have been too late to save the Dreaming Dragon.

The Dreaming Dragon looks even less happy to hear that.

Shouldn't she be happy she was saved? She needs to lighten up.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

While I didn't get her body to breed my own steel dragons, I do now have more than enough blood for Regweld and Bidderdoo to play with.

I also teleport out to the Black Ash Plains. One of notes reminded me that Geriviar live in that area. After that fight I want something that will ignore spell resistance and an antimagic field.

Geriviar are incredibly violent. They also hate structures of any kind. It wasn't hard to bait one into attacking. Good thing since the near constant ashfall from the volcanoes make it impossible to just use aerial surveillance.

Seeing it in action was amazing. It's incredibly fast, and overwhelmingly powerful. I can see why no one has been able to settle here. I wanted one.

Not just some blood for experiments. Not even a simulacrum. I want one alive and whole.

Sadly I don't have a way of controlling one. Not yet. A project for later. Right now my party opens fire, breaking the invisibility sphere hiding us and the flying longboat. I have my blood sample already, but let them keep attacking. After all this thing is incredibly dangerous. It should provide an equivalent amount of experience.

Of not. I retreat when I notice most of the spells are fizzling out when they touch it's skin. Looks like we'll have to try some other time.

Still the simulacrums assemble easily enough. I may have gone a bit overboard. Eight is a bit much. Especially since I then had to listen to Regwed's whining about how little blood I left him to play with.

Still the exploding nodules they can tear off and throw are a welcome addition. Thanks to creative use of simulacrum the nodules are all perfectly identical foot-wide spheres. Add a brittle iron shell and the result was a devastating bomb that easily matched the effectiveness of a powerful fireball.

While I fully intend to use them to supply Korriban, there is no way I'm leaving them that vulnerable. Like the spellgliders I'll ship loads of the bombs over until I'm satisfied they can protect themselves. Until then Coruscant will gain a new underground wing.

Seeing everything stalled while I wait for enough troops or items to be built was aggravating. I was impatient enough that I ended up starting more projects. After all, the sooner I get started the shorter I'll have to wait on them as well.

Since I had recently been reminded of Naruto I suppose I shouldn't that became my next inspiration. I was going to make my own ninja! It wouldn't even require a breeding program. I already had my ideal ninja. Kethra.

At least in how she fought. The movement part will have to be addressed. Along with the flashy powers. Although I think I'll settle for replacing those with alchemical items.

A quick test confirmed magical tattoos carried over if you reincarnate. Grafts don't though. So I started making a list of tattoos to be added to Kethra's clone, since she refused to stay still for months.

It was a good thing I did retrieve Gnawbones hoard. I spent it all on tattoos. Increased running speed, boosts to balance, jump, sneaking and tumble and finally a set of elaborate tattoos that impart both the distance and returning property to any weapon they throw.

Still they worked perfectly and I have no doubt Kethra ordered items with similar effects from the artisans. The next step was to change the race. Not because it was a clone, I had already made it male. No, because I had an idea.

So one vial of blood and spell later and I have a kenku. Then I turned him over to Bidderdoo. I wanted him to use the same shadow dragon scales as before. Not to mention extra eyes, climbing legs and other grafts.

The results were impressive. Bidderdoo had only gotten better with practice. The kenku didn't have patchwork scales between his feathers. Instead his feathers had combined with the scales. Combined with the tattoo generating a small layer of smoke around him and he was incredibly difficult to strike. He had even blended it in the buffeting wing graft, which means the graft looks like a natural part of him.

The crow man was perfect! I promptly named him Itachi despite the fact I then fed him to a deepspawn. Now all that was left was the equipment. And after how well Bidderdoo I'd feel ashamed if I didn't go all out.

I summoned a steelwing and permanently bound it so I could harvest its feathers. Legend lore had suggested and testing confirmed they would serve as superb throwing knives. I had already been considering it as another item to sell, but that made it much more important. Of course I then had to use a mindrape and limited wish to alter Itachi's weapon preference to knives, but that was a minor issue.

The feather knives seemed to glide through the air, allowing accurate throws beyond even a slings range. Combined with the distance enchantment and they even have a slight range advantage against bows. I could even upload farshot since once it was undead, increasing it's range even further.

Sure they lacked a real handle but it wasn't like they needed to fight in melee. They were also naturally keen. I'm definitely going to be selling them. Sure adding a handle will half it's range, but they'll still be vastly superior to normal knives.

It was the presentation of a pair of zezir in iron cages that ultimately decided me. Unlike the pyrohydra I had captured, zezir use a chemical reaction to breathe fire. Essentially they naturally generate napalm, or as this world calls it, alchemist's fire.

Between the knives, vials of alchemical concoctions, and the shadow dragon breath weapon Bidderdoo had somehow managed to slip in I doubt they even needed any support. Not that there's a hurry. Without a new area to secure they're only being used to patrol Coruscant for now.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Of course then I find out Regweld has ended up accomplishing something that impresses both me and Geth. He created a new species that can still fly after being animated as a skeleton.

While working on the kenku with Bidderdoo he had noticed how the wings were actually made from overlapping fins that jutted out. Almost like very solid feathers.

Since he had knows how much I rely on undead he decided to correct what he saw as their biggest weakness. Their lack of mobility. Most undead are slow and very few can actually fly.

Using a combination of grafts and alchemical infusions the wing characteristics of multiple dragons were applied to a wyvern. The result was a gigantic wyvern , easily sixty feet in length and a wingspan of over twice that.

While the size was impressive especially considering they were still twice as easy to control as the weakest blood hulk, it was the wings that were the largest difference. It had large wings that seemed to be made from thin sheets of overlapping bone. Which meant they didn't rot away when it was animated.

Best of all he had managed to create armor from dragon scales that was equivalent to, appropriately enough, scale mail. And at least from a distance it allowed it to pass as a living creature.

While it had to be fed into a deepspawn while immature a haste spell could easily fix that. Best of all it could be applied to other creatures. Wyverns were not the fastest of fliers. Nor the most graceful.

So many possibilities. While it won't affect my setups in Korriban or Taris, any future army will likely incorporate this breakthrough.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

With so many new project ideas to work on I'm almost disappointed now to find out it's almost spring. Time really does fly when your having fun.

At least the artisans have finally got around to creating defensive gear for us! Armored cloaks that also provide bonuses to our ability to resist spells and energy, rings of protection and best of all, boots that increase our speed as well as our ability to dodge attacks.

And since even my copies seem to be obsessed with offense more gear in that direction. Kethra and Mara both had goggles imbued with Hunter's Eye, allowing them to see vulnerable points and aim at them easier. Kethra also received all the items she ordered that gave her boosts to her maneuverability.

I was handed a small stack of wands. It seems my wand production facilities were finally online!

Based on an odd spell I vaguely remembered, it took quite a bit of work from my artisans to recreate it. It basically planted a magical staff inside a shallow pool. One of the things I had remembered wrong was that it was a pool of actual potions and not just clear water. Then the fourth level spell is cast, at least I had that part right, and the staff sprouts branches like a tree.

The caster determines which spell is imbued into the branch and how many charges are siphoned from the staff. Break off the branch and instant wand!

Of course the staff is drained to do this, which is why I was so obsessed with discovering how to create rechargeable staves. And now I have an entire stack of fourth level wands for the low price of letting a staff absorb a few spells.

The wands had been preselected by me at the very beginning. Eight of them, enough for my staff to hold them all. Five were each elemental variation of an empowered scorching ray. Enervation, Bestow Curse and just in case an Animate Dead.

Not to say the others didn't receive a wand or two each. Even Usk took one, even if it was for stoneskin.

Bella and Mara had no intention of competing with Kethra physically, so the went with a magical solution. Dimensional Jaunt usable three times a day placed in the boots allowed them to keep up with her at least in battle.

Geth was the only one to receive an additional defensive item. The first ring of regeneration they had finished. After all, if he was going to be running around with a small cloud of bone homunculi he needed something to keep him from dying to feedback.

Harkle seemed very grateful for our presence when we showed up for the march north. He was even more grateful for the ring of wizardry and the same defensive gear the rest of us received.

Hopefully I haven't butterflied his death into being. After all I did save his uncle and cousin from a nasty winter cough a year back. I'm fairly certain they would have died without me there, especially since Longsaddle doesn't have any clerics.

Besides I have a fondness for old Ardanac. Well, maybe not old, but he's much older than I am. Serious, charismatic and devoted to his family I was seriously contemplating cloning him. He does seem the best bet since I decided Alustriel was too risky.

At least if Harkle does die I still have a vial of his blood. Just like I do for the rest of my family. After all we can't become the greatest clan of wizards if we keep dying inconveniently.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 8 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 2

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 5 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 7 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 9

Mara Ivy – Wizard 5 / Rogue 3 / Spellwarped Sniper 5 / Unseen Seer 1

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 7 / Bladesinger 5

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 1 / Fleshwarper 10 / Warshaper 2

Commander Cody - Wizard 8 / Fighter 1 / Arcane Archer 7 / Arcane Duelist 2


	15. Conquest

Chapter 14 Conquest

Bruenor's return was greeted with great fanfare. It also cleared up one mystery.

The rest of Longsaddle had been busy dealing the large influx of dwarves arriving for the upcoming campaign. Thousands of dwarves had gathered together. In such an environment my miniaturizing farms had proven themselves several times over.

I had also ordered the creation of a few dozen beer focused alchemy jugs and then lay out plans for a solid stone tavern. Dwarves are famous for a few things. Fighting, stubbornness and mining are among them. So is drinking.

In the months the two taverns I set up have been open they more than made my investment back. After Mithril Hall opens up I'll likely move at least one of them closer.

I found Bruenor in the middle of one of my taverns telling everyone in the room about how I rescued him. He spent a lot of time relishing the details of just how I butchered the dragon and harvested it for parts. Even describing how I unmanned him with great glee.

With details like that I wouldn't be too hard for others to figure out I was attempting to breed dragons. Of course if anyone had just scryed on me it'd also be obvious. I really should have made sure to keep everything underground. Or at least warded the surface of my base, no matter how long it would have taken.

And the problem was I hadn't even realized it might be a problem. I was too caught up in the excitement of getting another type of dragon as a resource. I really need to be more paranoid. I just hope the fact that I've moved all of my dragon are underground wasn't too late.

Still, no use wasting time on regrets. I share a pint with Bruenor and congratulated the rest of his party. My announcement of free beer the rest of the night is greeting with cheers.

The next morning the army headed out. After the first hour I left, teleporting back to Longsaddle. I organized a team of artisans to tear down one of the tavern. I had it rebuilt just outside Taris. Along with that I erected several crude and temporary stone shelters. Everything was ready long before the army arrived.

In fact I was early. Three days into the campaign and I was already bored. Sure I teleported in a few loads of fresh food, but by the end of the week I was done waiting. I didn't even want to work any projects since I had gotten all hyped up for the invasion.

So I decided to start my invasion of the Gray Forest.

It feels little odd starting a war just after I've begun another. And both of them using Longsaddle as the launch point. Mithril Hall is Bruenor's campaign though, not mine. I'm just there to lend support.

The Gray Forest though is mine.

Since the rest of my party was still traveling with the dwarves the first wave was myself and a score of my artisans. The three kenku I had already made came with me. While we casually slaughtered every living thing within a hundred feet the artisans got to work.

The artisans quickly tore apart the grove to make room for the rest of the troops to spread out. Most of them then began rapidly constructing the fortress that would protect the portal. It was crude and would likely be rebuilt later, but for now faster was better.

The rest started harvesting the weirwoods and started portaling back with full loads of green branches and sections of wood. One even heads towards the fey cherry tree grove. I really want samples of those trees.

Four months have provided me with plenty of time to work on my army. My newest shamans were based off my current version of Cody. They were still reincarnated as sun elves and had the same tattoos and spells though. They could just now use the enchanted bone and cartilage bow that was grafted into their arm better.

The artisans had been hard at work creating new deepspawn as well clones just because it was faster. At least in the short term. The twenty shamans I had prepared all had full complements of fifty of the fake xenomorphs.

I had even finally come up with a name for them. Taloned Felldrakes. Sure it meant I had to change their armor so it now had scales, but it wasn't like it was really costing me anything. Or at least not anything I couldn't easily afford. And it meant it was that much less likely for my efforts to be discovered.

The shamans rode in behind the taloned felldrakes on their mounts. Not all of them had one yet, but at least they all had the skeleton archer guards. Humanoid skeletons were easy enough to come by.

The only thing lacking was winged felldrakes. Each shaman had at least a couple, but there just hadn't been time to make as many as I wanted. At least they all had several boguns to help scout.

They spread out like a plague. Their orders were very simple. As each group came through I gave them a direction. They were to head out, killing everything they run into. After a mile they were to stop and stand guard.

I'll pull them back, but only after I've secured the portal.

Remarkably no one reacts to my presence. At least not until too late. By the time the second day is over I'm entrenched. The initial fortress was long since torn down and in it's place is a massive smokey gray crystal tower in the shape of a grove of trees. It was almost a hundred feet across and stretched upwards the same distance to breach the canopy.

It was functional as well. I had paid quite a few people to work on the design. Not surprisingly most of the final design was done by a half-elf diviner named Malrinth Alont. She had actually stolen the design from a family in Evereska.

In lieu of payment she had made me promise to show her the actual castle if I ever built it. Apparently it was one of those families that would never give the time of day to her. She wanted to tour it if only to spite them.

I intended to let her too. The design was amazing. And she hadn't just copied it. She had adjusted it specifically for my needs.

False grooves in the bark disguised arrow slits. Artfully arranged clusters of leaves provided hiding spots for boguns to keep watch. They aren't even exposed since transparent leaves provide cover. Larger branches shielded entrances and provided landing platforms.

The roots led into a small maze-like set of tunnels that hide several ground floor entrances. I particularly like the last since I bound several dozen boneclaws down there as guardians. Inside the narrow tunnels there isn't any room to dodge their attacks.

Malrinth even gave me a way to differentiate between the castles. She had several designs, each themed after a different type of tree. She definitely earned her tour. This first castle is named and styled Silvergrove after the rings of grand gray-barked trees that seem to be unique to this forest.

One of the shamans is placed in charge of the Silvergrove. Instead of any felldrakes all he controls are masses of skeleton archers and boguns. He'll still gradually build up a force of winged felldrakes, but that will take time.

He'll be linked through a mindwitness to the rest of my network and well be able to call for aid if necessary. The mindwitness will also be able to start a new network here as more castles are erected.

The rest of my forces pulled back to garrison the castle. Only the outer shell had been completed so far, but it was enough to house undead troops.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The counterattack was actually a combination of forces, all of which hated each other. It was mind-boggling. Hobgoblins laid siege to the walls while elves charged through the canopy. And the entire time drow attempted to sneak in through the roots.

I actually froze seeing it. I didn't know how to react to seeing three forces that I had personally seen slaughtering each other united against me.

Fortunately I had left orders already. My kenku led the way. Along with the winged felldrakes they butchered every elf they ran into. The elves didn't even run. They fought to the last, still trying to get inside. Which is a bit worrying.

The hobgoblins at least I was prepared for. The walls had all been magically reinforced and the weapons they could bring through the forest weren't strong enough to damage them. My skeleton archers, while not very skilled, were plentiful. Showers of arrows massacred the attackers. The hobgoblins at least retreated after taking losses.

And as for the drow. None of them made it very far. Inside the cramped corridors the boneclaws could skewer multiple opponents at once. Uploading the cleave feat was definitely one of my better calls.

I couldn't let it stand of course. Unknown variables were dangerous. Besides, interrogations were easy with mindrape.

The hobgoblins were simple. They attacked because that's what they do. They attack everyone. No surprises there except that they didn't know about the elves. Either group.

The drow were next. I didn't even know drow were in this part of the world. The revelation of an entrance to the Underdark in the nearby Adhe forest was troubling. At least it wasn't inside the Gray forest. So raiders and surprisingly traders, at least with some pirates they've contacted. Interesting.

The elves were the real surprise. They were all members of the Eldreth Veluuthara, a fanatical elven group dedicated to wiping out humans. They had just assumed the invading forces were human or worse.

It was them who had allied with the drow. Although it was little more than giving them information and subtly coordinating the attacks to happen at the same time. Worse the majority of elves in the forest seemed to be part of the organization. Clearly they would all have to go.

My release of the needlefolk was going to be a problem. They can just as easily be used against me as help. It was annoying, but I ended up having a team of artisans go around and wipe most of them out.

I kept two. A fourth kenku had been spawned and with that I now had my hunter killer teams. Two kenku, an artisan and a needlefolk. With it's massive detection range, it wouldn't take long to purge the entire forest of all elves.

Meanwhile I had most of the shamans group together and head out to assault the nearest hobgoblin fortress. No doubt I would take casualties, but I can replace most of my forces fairly easily.

The assaults were entertaining. Sure they were very straight forward. Dread and skeletons can't really pull off fancy tactics without being micromanaged. But they were powerful enough that it was fun watching them curb stomp the hobgoblins.

The mounts, which I probably should figure out a name for, tear through the walls. While the tails by themselves were already more damaging than a battering ram, uploading precise knowledge of several feats such as power attack and cleave means a single swipe shatters a wide section instead of making a small hole.

The taloned felldrakes just charged in like an unstoppable tide. Fancy tactics and gear meant nothing when the enemy was protected enough that only the most precise blows could injure one and tough enough to take several such blows.

They were also strong enough to completely crush most hobgoblins they struck. Just like in the baldur's gate game hobgoblins often exploded when they were hit hard enough. The winged felldrakes just added to the confusion, making it harder to organize any resistance.

Afterwards I set the fort on fire. Seeing just how few losses they took. A single mount and a half dozen taloned felldrakes, I decided to have them march on the second fort. The winged felldrakes took the worst losses. Partially due to having less armor and partially because they kept attacking commanders. I still only lost half of the fifty I started with.

In the end the hobgoblins provided me with a name. Hearing them refer to the mounts as armored beasts was enough. It wasn't great, but it was better than anything else I had thought of. Armored felldrakes it is.

Raising and mindrapings the leader of each fort gave me a fairly decent map of the hobgoblin empire. And it was an empire. The entire range of Earthfast mountains were inhabited by the hobgoblins. They had carved literally hundreds of fortresses across them.

Worse they had discovered ripplebark and had spread into much of the surrounding Underdark. The only thing keeping them from expanding explosively seemed to be the fact they're surrounded by enemies.

The dwarven city of Earthfast, the orc realm of Vastar, several drow outposts, and even a destrachan nest. This area of the world seems to be stuck in a constant state of war. And the scary thing is the hobgoblins seem to be winning.

Or at least they aren't losing if the fact that they can constantly defend their underground holdings while continue trying to expand on the surface is any indication.

The next day I owned the forest. The kenku, tireless as only undead can be, had relentlessly hunted down every group of elves they could find. A few may have survived, but it was unlikely. The elves, as few as they numbered, had kept close track of each other.

The second hobgoblin had fallen as quickly as the first. The last one had been the only one to have even partially stone walls and impatient I had lent some spell support. Then I had a team of artisans teleport over and bombard every hobgoblin fortress they could find.

They had destroyed a dozen smaller forts before running low on spells. There were now no remaining hobgoblin structures in the entire forest.

And as for the humans?

They don't have any settlements in the forest or even nearby. That's likely to change without the elves or hobgoblins here. Before that happens I intend to ring the forest in enough fortresses to protect it from everything.

Dathomir was mine.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

It didn't take much to alter my needlefolk to exclude drow. Even better part of the original attitude meant they would automatically attack them. Since I was working on them anyway I added in the ability slowly shift their coloration like a chameleon since the fang dragon blood had turned them gray. While that would work in this forest, I intended to seed them heavily in the Adhe forest.

Due to their natural color and what I was going to use as their origin I named them Silverthorns. I've already heavily seeded both forests with them. The other nearest forest, Brynwood, only received a few. Seeing just how many threats were nearby though I decided to give them some help.

Stealing a few Green Warders from nearby Cormanthyr was simple. Creating more was the problem. It seems, like topiary guardians, they're as much built as grown. While I eventually plan on adding both, it won't happen anytime soon. At least the three I do have agreed to help protect this forest.

Seeing as how the most common predator were dire wolves I decide to use them instead. Capturing them isn't difficult and Regweld easily begins altering them. Warbeast, improved bite, and fang dragon blood. I was going to call them fanged felldrakes and replace all the wolves with them.

The draconic instinct would make them territorial and aggressive. However they'd be intelligent enough not to blindly attack everything they came across. Teaching them to leave my troops alone should be easy, especially since they aren't edible.

A week passes and I'm now certain the forest is empty of everything that's not mine. I have three patrols of kenku constantly patrolling the borders now. While they are still only wielding knives, it doesn't seem to be a problem. So far they've mostly been killing woodcutters and hunters from the city of Lyrabar.

Lyrabar was part of Impiltur a heavily religious nation that primarily worshipped three good aligned gods, among them Tyr. Paladins were common, which made me worry. The fact that many of the lords were paladins made it worse. I still remember that insane ghost from Undermountain. I definitely need to establish a powerful presence here.

Twice hobgoblins have attempted to reestablish a foothold. Each time after wiping it out I sent a team of artisans out. The second time I had them all use wish to duplicate the Earthquake spell. Between them fifteen castles were completely destroyed. There hasn't been a third attempt.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I likely would have stayed in the Gray Forest consolidating my rule but I ran out of time. The dwarven army had finally arrived at Mithril Hall. While I had spent an evening away when they camped at Taris, this would be my first real absence from my newest settlement.

I'm not sure why I'm so worried. I left Korriban alone for months, only checking up on it before starting my invasion of the Gray Forest.

Still this is for a good cause. And publicity.

It turns out I don't even need the troops from Taris. I end up only bringing a single squad and that only because I wanted some bodyguards while the rest of my party has fun. After some of the crazy things we've faced the duergar are essentially sword fodder.

The number of dwarves proves overwhelming. They form the main push, wanting to be the ones to take back their home. We guard the flanks and secure the rear. It takes five days to clear out the entire complex.

I'm a little disappointed it was so easy. I guess I'll have my chance to show off when the drow invade in a few years.

I leave Harkle to handle any official business. After all unless Ardanac ends up having children of his own, Harkle is likely to be the next family head.

I head back to the Gray Forest and past to the Earthfast mountains. While fighting in halls I had been struck by an idea that wouldn't leave me alone. And the hobgoblins are my best bet.

I start assaulting the various hobgoblin fortresses and castles with trolls and other charmed monsters. Each time I observe invisibly from above. I inflict a lot of casualties but keep being disappointed. Still the hobgoblins seem to use a variety of tactics and weapons. It was only a matter of time.

I didn't have endless amounts of magic though. So I needed something to occupy myself with the rest of the day. So I decided to grant Ms Alont her requested tour. She enjoyed it despite the lack of furnishings.

Of course that only occupied my first day. And likely she would use the opportunity to better spy on me in the future. I don't mind, what's one more? Anonymity is beyond me at this point.

Besides I've learned my lesson. Everything sensitive from now on will take place behind multiple sets of privacy wards. And everything important is already warded and underground. It may even prove beneficial if the only thing anyone can see is the troops and how many there are.

Well, eventually. Right now my number's aren't too impressive. Which is why I'm currently babysitting this base. That and even using unaffiliated troops like my kenku. While thanks to a spell I call Troll's Gift I no longer have any problems supplying taloned or armored felldrakes my bottleneck is the shamans.

It won't last. In a few months when the clones all finish I'll have an abundance of shamans. For now though I'm building more castles. I've even decided to go all out. Instead of a few scattered castles I'm going to have clusters of castles.

The Silvergrove Castle I have is shortly going to be joined by four others. They'll be oriented along the cardinal directions and set 700 hundred feet apart. Which means the shamans within each cluster of castles will be able to continuously monitor and communicate with each other through boguns.

The castles will end up with an actual descriptor term in place of the term grove. I'm not sure how elvish it appears but I ended up naming them after seasons. The north castle will be called Wintersilver castle, the east springsilver and so on. The one I'm in be Silverheart. Grove will refer to the cluster of castles so all five castles will be called Silvergrove. I seems hippyish enough to fit.

I keep poking the hobgoblins though. And finally it pays off. There right below me is a team of hobgoblins using short swords and large shields standing in a shield wall. I watch with admiration their amazing teamwork as they slaughter the dozen trolls I had dropped off.

Looks like I hit the jackpot.

I kill them all. I can test them thorough for tactics and teamwork back at my base. Looks like I'll soon have another base creature. I should probably start thinking about where to place them.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

The fact that it's now 1357 pushes me to move faster. To move a little more recklessly. In just one years time the Godswar breaks out and the world changes. For me the most important thing is that the gods can't just kill me on a whim, not with Ao restricting them.

The downside is that the Weave alters significantly. While I know a number of spells that cease to work afterwards I have no idea if spells like Limited Wish or Wish end up with restrictions placed on them. It's likely though.

So I end up moving much faster then I'd like. While I still monitor the Gray Forest I start working on three additional bases. The first is Wave Echo Cave. Using all the research the artisans had done I expanded and repaired the complex. I wanted it to once more be as capable as it used to be. I also made very sure there were no routes to the Underdark.

I had finally heard back from Sundabar. With a blue dragon corpse I could finally kick off an idea I had been waiting on. I had been experimenting with the pyrohydra, but had been holding off on committing it to anything. After all I only had one. But now I have the perfect use for it.

Helmed Horrors. While normally the process just uses a normal suite of armor I intend to go beyond that. A +1 blueshine fullplate set made out of half-blue dragon pyrohydra scales would render the final construct immune to rust, acid, fire and electricity. Even better the scales were a beautiful iridescent dark purple with an even darker blue undertone.

Additionally I incorporated both a permanent Heat Metal and a greater augment crystal of protection from cold into their design. Without having to worry about cold based damage I could use their spell immunities for other things.

The spells I ended up choosing were Soundburst and Spiritual Weapon because they were relatively common. The third one was disintegrate. That one was chosen because of just how prevalent it's use was among my armies.

Not all of that was necessary for my planned expansion, just most of it. The Mere of Dead Men is a nearby swamp. All those immunities will aid the constructs against the enemies in there. Useful considering I want to eventually conquer at least part of the swamp.

Then I worked on their offense. A dragonbone version of the stormtrooper crossbow covered range, but it was melee the excelled. It didn't even need much work to make my idea work. Twin dragonfang shortswords fashioned from the hydra. They retained a trace of both energies causing them to burn and shock anyone struck.

Unfortunately Helmed Horrors are not something that can be built quickly. Worse I ended up needing to copy Regweld and Bidderdoo in order to start the rest of my experiments with the blue dragon blood.

Almost as useful as that is the fact that I now have actual purple dragon scales. Considering Cormyr calls their soldiers Purple Dragons, is a prime target for arranging a trade deal. Which will have to wait until later and I'm not stretched so thin.

It's also the reason I designed the armor to resemble Daedric Armor from Elder Scrolls. It's very unlikely anyone will connect the two, especially with the blueshine coating.

The second was more problematic. It was exposed, open, obvious. There would be no hiding it. Still the news from Coruscant meant I didn't care.

A red dragon had teleported in.

Somehow a dragon knew about me and tried to ambush me. At least he was also killed almost instantly. It seems my gambit had paid off. After the last few fights where the enemies had high magic resistance I had set up a desperation tactic against such enemies.

A Staff of the Magi can deliberately be shattered to release all of its energy simultaneously. It also releases it a raw arcane energy, bypassing any magic resistance. I had over a dozen of them made, all without any powers that could drain them, meant only to be used as arcane nukes. Oddly it turned out to be much cheaper that way than using staffs of power.

I make a note to have more built, a lot more. I notice with satisfaction the corpse is easily 200 feet long. Meaning this was most likely Klauth. And since he was carrying the body of another red dragon, he was probably wanting me to breed red dragons. Though I doubt he'd have paid me for it.

Still, it looks like he'll get his wish. Since the bodies are already warded I order the artisans to start harvesting. Looks like I'll be adding red dragons to my breeding program. At least temporarily.

The program is gathering too much attention. It's rapidly becoming more trouble than it's worth to keep trying to raise my own superweapons. I guess I'll have to stick with armies of lesser undead.

Well right after my second conquest.

The Forest of Wyrms is infamous for the family of green dragons that dwell within it's depths. Even better they were aggressive enough that they were likely to be the only major deterrent in the forest.

So I was going to replace them. After all they aren't doing anyone any good just isolated like that. Far better for me to take possession of the forest and turn it into another military base.

It wasn't even hard. It turns out the reputation of the forest is grossly exaggerated. Instead of the scores or even dozens of green dragons the tales spoke about I found ...four.

Four dragons and none of them had even reached wyrm status. Needless to say my party had an easy time killing them. We weren't counting eggs and wyrmlings. They were useless since I can breed my own and much too weak to even notice other then to casually dispose of.

It wasn't all hype though. I did find a number of green dragon corpses outside a red dragon's lair. Funny how I suddenly find myself with an abundance of red dragons when I thought they were all but extinct in the north.

Of course that left me to hold the forest and everyone expects dragons in a place named and famed for them. So I placed dragons there.

The red dragon Klauth had brought had been a young adult. Fortunate because any older and I couldn't have animated it. Fortunately it was just barely within the size limitations of what a deepspawn can consume. I have a feeling that even a few years older and it would have been too late.

So to complete the ruse I had the skin removed before animation and then enchanted as armor. The armor was then glamered to make the dragon appear as a living green dragon. As long as no one bothers to 'waste' using acid against it, that's three energy types it's safe from.

Just in case the armor was made everbright, affecting even the glamer, making it look like it was clad in polished emeralds. Additionally a few other enchantments were tattooed onto the bones before copying.

A modified cloak of the arachnida, allowing it to completely ignore webs and even spiderclimb slowly. Pass Without trace so that there aren't any tracks to follow. Enlarge Person to double in size. Reduce Person to aid in maneuverability. Invisibility and Silence for ambushes. And finally all the natural weapons were replaced with grafted fang dragon equivalents further imbued with Sharptooth.

And all of that before I figured out how to properly word a wish so that it rapidly ages a few years after being spawned. Sure it killed the dragon, but it easily adds an additional ten feet in length. There's a pretty big difference between thirty and forty feet long, especially when you're able to double it.

Likely Regweld and Bidderdoo will end up coming up with more later on. For now though it is plenty. Especially considering just how many I'm sending.

The red dragon had nineteen hit die. The commander, or appropriately enough Dragonlord, could animate and control no less than eight of them. That wouldn't leave him room to control anything else so seven. Seven dragons, a death tyrant and two deathwatches for healing.

A terrifying force by any definition. And I sent two dragonlords.

Then I started securing the forest itself. Privacy wards as standard. Followed by Guards and Wards for fog up to five feet and webbing the next fifteen. And confusion spells everywhere.

The layout only made sense once you considered the dread I was using. Kobolds. Specifically Huron reincarnated as a kobold. Since kobolds were known for a few things I did my best to replicate them.

Kobolds mine. While the dread won't need to dig for resources tunnels and traps still required it so I gave him burrowing claws. Kobolds keep pets. The only living creature I introduced, not counting the trolls used for food, the half-green dragon basilisk will be the 'tribes' favored war beast and pet. Kobolds like ambushes. Well the forest itself takes care of that.

The crossbows they have, very similar to the ones I gave the stormtroopers, also encourages guerrilla tactics. And since they weren't being used I even gave the kobolds the two shrinking ballistas I had made.

The only real surprise was finding out there was a tribe of sentient frogs in the forest. The Grippli as they call themselves, served the green dragons and didn't want to be freed from what others would call enslavement.

In the end I decided to just accept it. I explained the protective spells and then divided the tribe into thirds. The first group would stay in my base, which I named Endor. The second group would go to Regweld since they had an absurdly slow population growth rate. One child every fifty years is ridiculous. The last group would found a new colony at my third location. Especially since they all seem to know at least some alchemy.

My third location is actually in the open. The area between the Goblintide and Surbrin rivers, particularly where they join is my site. Water rich, extremely fertile and completely abandoned due to lack of any shelter.

That was about to change. I had brought almost all of my artisans for this. Even the ones from the Gray Forest. The castles can afford a delay of a day.

I make sure to shroud the area in a thick cloud of mist on top of the layers of privacy spells. I definitely do not want anyone to see what I'm about to do.

Once the entire area is protected I start planting all the fey cherry cuttings I've been saving. While I had placed a couple in Coruscant and Longsaddle the majority had been saved. Then I had the artisans cast Wish, draining multiple trolls of their life force and using it to cause the trees to rapidly grow.

Within moments they stood over a hundred feet tall. Over fifty years of growth in only a few seconds. And then I do it again. Twenty minutes later I now have hundreds of large fey cherry trees across an enormous area.

Seeing just how little area I've covered despite how far apart the fey cherry trees are brings home just how big the area I was attempting to claim. While the forest was small now, I fully intended it to fill the area. An area that stretched forty miles across and over a hundred long.

It's going to take a lot of work, but the results should be worth it. And I don't like to think small. Although sadly the rest of the trees weren't going to match the fey cherry trees in height. Both weir and duskwood trees only grow around a hundred feet before stopping. The fey cherry trees can reach several times that.

I'm calling it Ravenswood. Since the kenku are supposed to be discrete I cast a Sympathy spell to attract giant ravens. With them openly nesting in the fey cherry trees the name should stick. And since the kenku were modeled after shinobi, Konoha seems appropriate the the base, even if it does break my star wars pattern.

Not that I have a base. At least not yet. Eventually I intend to hollow out a fey cherry tree and use it as a tower. Combined with custom illusory walls and magnificent mansions it'll easily hold enough troops.

Hopefully the Grippli won't have any problems adjusting to living here. It's certainly damp enough with the two nearby rivers. And the giant crickets I had been experimenting with recently for fodder should be useful. Also a few friendly myconid colonies might help with the transition.

Oh well, it wasn't like anyone got it but me.

I pull all six of my kenku warriors, who I named nightwings, from the Gray Forest to patrol this new patch of woods. After all, all this will soon be theirs. The sooner everyone knows that the better.

I spend the rest of the week there. As each patch of forest was finished I layered it with permanent illusions. Mainly a Hallucinatory terrain set thirty feet up that made it look like the trees had sprouted several dense layers of branches. Between that and the Guards and Wards spell that's set to create webbing along the ground, constant directional confusion and a ten foot layer of fog it'll be a nightmare to navigate.

Of course six nightwings, no matter how dangerous, can't hold out alone. So I support them with undead beholders. The commander, called a Kage, can control a full three dozen of them.

I use spectators since I don't want any of the spell effects being suppressed by accident. The eyes grafted on were Sleep, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Disintegrate and Telekinesis. In keeping with the Naruto naming scheme I call them ANBU. The final touch is to place a permanent blacklight spell on them. Maybe I should have named them Grue?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 8 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 2

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 6 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 7 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 10

Mara Ivy – Wizard 3 / Rogue 3 / Spellwarped Sniper 5 / Unseen Seer 4

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 7 / Bladesinger 6

Bidderdoo Harpell – Transmuter 1 / Fleshwarper 10 / Warshaper 3

Commander Cody - Wizard 5 / Fighter 1 / Arcane Archer 10 / Arcane Duelist 2


	16. Diplomacy

Chapter 15 Diplomacy

I stare at the creature in pure shock. It's four feet long and has eight legs. However, i's not insectile at all. Instead it looks like a cross between a weasel and a dog. And then had it's fur spun out of solid gold.

An aurumvorax. They were incredibly rare and more importantly incredibly valuable. And this group of adventurers had offered it to me.

I think my silence was making them nervous since the person who made the offer spoke up. "If you don't want it that's fine. We just figured with the bounty and all.."

I interrupted him immediately. "I'm interested. Would you be interested in a trade?"

The half-elfs face lit up and he didn't even look at the rest of his party before answering. "Depends on what you're offering."

After that we sat down to seriously bargain. Although I was pretty generous. After all the main issue that was slowing down the construction of my iron golem was my supply of gold. While normally I don't have to worry about resources since most magical items use gemstones, the iron golem requires pure gold. And lots of it.

It had honestly been a race between finishing the golem and following anvils before the Godswar started. And this group had just solved it. I was very generous.

I could afford to be. After all most adventurers spend their gold on better equipment and that I could supply in abundance. They departed, very happy and having publicly signed a contract so they were ensured that I would follow through on the terms.

In return for the slightly battered corpse of a perfectly preserved aurumvorax they were each going to be fully outfitted. Dragonhide armor, magical weapons, several augment crystals, a few wands and an entire chest of various potions including dragon's blood elixirs.

Truthfully the augment crystals were the most expensive portion for me. I have my own source of dragon scales. Rockworm hide if properly prepared can be fashioned in the equivalent of adamantine weapons as long as they're blunt. The keen knives were made using the same feather blades the kenku wield. The wands were generated from my farm and of course I had myconids making all my potions.

Until everything was ready they would be staying for free at one of my mom's festhalls. Hiring Malrinth Alont full time had been one of the best ideas I've ever had. While I doubt her gentle nature would let her agree with many of my methods, she had proven very successful at managing my assets in Longsaddle.

She was the one to suggest hiring bards to spread news of my bounty on unusual and well preserved specimens. And although I hadn't even considered it, she had also spread the word that Longsaddle doesn't discriminate against half-elves.

Which wasn't hard to claim seeing as how I supplied a group of them to the longriders. And the fact that they were all attractive females didn't hurt. Of course people grumbled, but the first time someone challenged one of them and she literally flayed him with her spiked chain they stopped.

It was actually one of my better schemes. The half-elves were in truth former slaves from Calimshan. Or at least reincarnated clones of them.

I had an artisan move to Calimshan and hire himself out to work at one of the gladiator arenas. Simbul's Synostodweomer along with Troll's Regeneration allowed him to heal almost as well as a cleric.

The Pashas down there had a horrible tradition of using female gladiators to settle arguments. They selected them for both beauty and grace and then training them with disfiguring weapons like spikes chains and serrated blades.

My artisans services meant that a gladiator wasn't just sold to a brothel after a single fight. He was able to discretely gather blood samples of hundreds of gladiators in just the past few months he's worked there.

I cloned them all. Then after reincarnating them I tested them across the board. I wanted the ones with the absolutely very best genetics. The ones who passed I kept in Coruscant. I layered enchantments on them and impregnated them.

After all I didn't want mine and Bella's child to grow up alone. It took her awhile, but she had worn me down on the issue. The thought that convinced me was that I was already actively breeding everything else. Exempting myself was just hubris. So she was not pregnant.

The rest I divided based on skill. Very few of them had been in more than one serious fight. The ones that did tended to be the ones naturally gifted and selected as concubines. But a few had just managed to train hard enough to become that good.

The ones who had a decent number of levels, anything over four, I tested again. This time to see how they faired in actual combat and not in an arena. Two of them pass.

One used a serrated two-bladed sword and the other a spiked chain. The Pashas it seemed really favored exotic double weapons. I don't currently have a use for exotic light infantry, but I'm sure a future base will. So for now I have them continue with their training.

The rest I offer to hire. A five year contract serving in the longriders. They'll still get paid, but they can't quit until after five years pass. After that they're free.

Almost overnight it seems the town gained its own community of half-elfs. Drawn by rumors of acceptance and the beautiful women. Most were wannabe adventurers. Emphasis on wannbe. All too many of them were just hoping to become adventurers and signed up for the Longriders in return for access to the Ivy Dungeon.

For the first time Longsaddle had an actual professional military. While I had paid salaries for dedicated longriders there was never more than about thirty before. Now we have over three hundred longriders, even if I expect the turnover rates to be enormous.

It did have it's downsides. That many longriders meant Regweld was able to convince Ardanac to let him supply them all with puddlejumpers. While I didn't mind his creation of a horse with an enhanced jump and speed, their use in the longriders meant the adventurers became very familiar with them.

And while the sales were beneficial for the town it meant the adventurers could roam farther. Adventurers are naturally curious. It wasn't long after they started showing up that I was forced to officially announce the existence of Coruscant.

After that I had to change out my first moat. After all I couldn't leave such a subtle warning against my dangerous traps. So I switched the grass for bamboo. It would be distinctive. It was too much trouble to make another wall and a fence would just be tacky.

Did you know bamboo counts as a grass? Maybe not scientifically, but at least according to wild magic it does. I was just trying to speed up its growth when I suddenly had hundred foot stalks of bamboo shooting up into the sky. Needless to say my first moat is now much deeper.

The only issue is the skeletal snakes can use the bamboo to climb out. Which is why I ended up switching the first and second moat. I wonder how long before I get complaints of idiots getting shot 'just for looking'?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I take a moment to relax. The past few months have been incredibly strenuous. With the fast approaching Godswar I was frantically doing everything I could to shore up my bases. Since I can't remember how long it lasts I'm preparing them an entire year without caster support or new troops.

Some of them I don't really have to worry about. Coruscant would be fine. It's heavily fortified now and has a large presence of artisans. Even if they all die from wildmagic surges I doubt any enemies will be much better. I've even temporarily arranged to suspend the use of the miniaturization rods for the farms. I have plenty of room after all.

Taris fine as well. Small and isolated as it is the defenses might actually be considered overboard. At least it means I don't have to worry about it.

Korriban is finally secure. All twelve of it's legions are formed save for the stormtroopers. They'll likely take years to fill the ranks unless I ship them more deepspawn. They've also managed to fly under the radar for now. My rampage against the bandits killed quite a few and the ones who are left are sticking to the trails.

Still I'm already planning it's expansion. A ring of six additional ziggurats should do nicely. Especially since I can use their underground levels for storage of spare stormtroopers. With that much military might controlling the Greenfields would be simple.

Wave Echo Cave is finally secured. A full squad for twenty Helmed Horrors and ten Battle Horrors protects it. While I dislike the creative way the Battle Horrors tend to interpret my orders I do need their initiative.

I also renamed it Mandalore. After all where else would would groups of flying armored warriors come from? With actual defenders I've also slowly started shifting the road eastward. I'm refraining from more overt moves until my new troops are ready.

Thanks to Gem Scarabs I had nearly endless resources to devote towards building more Helmed Horrors, but the problem was time. Even with the Forge of Spells drastically cutting the time down it still a full ten day. At least with the slight adjustments I had made, adding an additional two hit die and preselecting speed for it's weapon enchantment.

So I needed a dread warrior for the Warlords. I was tempted to go with the hobgolbins I picked up but in the end decided I could do better.

Instead I tested them and ripped out what knowledge I wanted. Then I implanted it all in a number of ogrillons left from the stormtrooper project. They are already disciplined. It was just a matter of conditioning them to use different weapons.

The weapon was a duskwood spear. Since they were large and the weapon weighed so little they could wield it as easily as a rapier. A large shield and mechanus plate armor completes the look. And also provides them with decent protection.

That wasn't the only thing I was making mechanus plate for. The commanders or battlemasters, controlled a few death tyrants along with several deathwatches, all of them in the same armored.

Endor was doing fine although both dragonlords were constantly busy hunting. Already they had rooted out bases belonging to the cult of the dragon and yuan-ti. I wanted to make it very clear everyone knows the forest is claimed.

At least the work on flight spells had finally been finished now that I could afford the delay. The three additional tattoos meant all future dragons will be able to fly, even if the twenty-one already there can't.

Towards that end I had even allowed them to rampage through Soubar. Too many would be dragon hunters had been coming from there in the few months I've been in charge. I invisibly backed them up with a number of acid fogs to supplement the cloudkills the dragonlords cast to make the raid more believable. Hopefully that drives home my point.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

In the mean time I open up talks with Cormyr. It's not much since I'm not ready to commit to any military action, but it opens the door.

King Azoun IV, like the past few kings of Cormyr, offered very generous incentives for anyone willing and able to tame the area known as the Stonelands. Which makes sense. The broken, rocky area is almost useless for anything except to shelter the wide variety of monsters and bandits.

Worse the bulk of it is cut off from the rest of Cormyr by the Stormhorns. And those mountains were virtually impassible except in a very few places. None of them near the Stonelands.

It was a decent chunk of land, measuring about 130 miles across and fifty miles wide. Larger even than Ravenswood. And the only reason it wasn't more was that it was very tightly bordered. The Stormhorns to the south did as much to shelter the people of Cormyr as it did to isolate it. Westwards was the Farsea Marsh and the East was the city of Tilverton, whose patrols meant at least the lands around it weren't considered part of the Stonelands.

And finally to the north was the Anauroch desert which was actually steadily advancing southwards. If I did take the Stonelands I'd have to do something about that. Maybe walls? I vaguely remember one of the problems with deserts was winds blowing away top soil.

Vanderghast, the court mage, is suspicious of me. It seems my reputation has made it all the way here. And that he knows about Coruscant. Which is annoying. Especially since the king trusts him, which I can't blame him for. Even if it does annoy me.

Still, it's not that big a problem. Tilverton seems to mark the northern edge of Cormyr, which means the Desertsmouth mountain range is unclaimed. The Bedine stick to the desert and I doubt the Dalelands will care. They seem to avoid settling anywhere near the mountains.

Taking them isn't an option right now. I can't really afford to start a war without the possibility of reinforcements or aid. But I can start preparing.

Laerti are essentially desert lizardfolk. They seemed to be the dominant intelligent species in the Anauroch, besides humans. They were also very fast, easily matching a war horse's pace. They were not possible to reincarnate into. Not sure why, but they can be turned into dread. So that meant training.

Laerti are almost universally mercenaries. Which means it's easy for me to approach a large band and hire them all. I hire them for two years and promise them pretty much everything they want. After all none of them were going to survive.

The band was mostly the smaller breed. After all they were the ones I cared about. The larger ones were both slower and immune to enchantments. Training them would be much harder. I divide them into smaller groups and assign them testers and trainers. In a year or so I want them turned into amazing skirmishers and scouts. The larger ones went to Bidderdoo.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I had also started an additional two bases. I was careful to pick ones that wouldn't require an actual defense on my part. Mostly because they was actually in places no one was likely to contest. And if they failed at least my investment was minimal.

The place was the Rethild Swamp. Located way down south it shared a border with Halruaa. It was also the source of The Servants of the Royal Egg. Even in this far north we have heard of them, the lizardfolk mercenaries who would fearlessly march to their death if ordered.

In many ways they reminded me of the Unsullied from a book series I had read. Still alive, but more robot than person. Much like my various types of dread.

So I infiltrated Rethild, thinking to simply clone the king. Of course then I realized he wasn't a lizardfolk, but a lizard king, a demonically bred race designed to rule other lizardfolk. His demon blood meant I couldn't clone or copy him.

It turns out he wasn't even the one I cared about. King Ghassis was indolent, happy with his station and seemed barely aware of what was going on around him. His general though showed promise.

Sladdis wasn't demonically tainted and interrogating him revealed he was perfect for my plans. He was the one who ran the mercenaries, having personally trained most of the officers. He was also ambitious, wanting to eventually rule. He was also realistic. He knew he couldn't win right now so was simply waiting until Ghassis was weakened with age before challenging him.

To encourage his cooperation I took him to the Endor and put on a show. Upon seeing all the green dragons bowing to me Sladdis looked ready to worship me. Sladdis eagerly accepted my offer to serve me in exchange for rulership of the swamp, which they call The Great Kingdom of Kethid. If feels a bit odd not to be renaming it, but not very important.

It took a wish, but in the end I managed to imbue both ogre and green dragon blood. Between the two templates he grew three whole feet as well as sprouted wings. Given just how of a boost gaining Kethid would be for me I sent him some help.

Arrk had trained well, but it was clear he was never going to catch up to the rest of us. And it really wasn't important anymore. Between clone back ups and all the troops I can call upon I don't really need a champion. But Sladdis might.

Taking over may go smoothly since lizardfolk are all about strength, but just in case hedging my bet isn't a bad thing. Imbuing Arrk with green dragon blood is a very familiar process. That wasn't all. Since the mercenaries seem to function primarily as spear men I send with them copies of the original hobgoblins, likewise imbued with green dragon blood.

Black dragon blood might have been more suited for a swamp, but green ensured they would appear similar to the lizard king. Just in Sladdis' case, bigger, better and a hell of a lot stronger.

Overall not bad. A troll, eight hobgoblins and some alchemy supplies in return for a kingdom. Not a bad gamble. Best of all, if this pays off I can use them to start taking over other swamps.

I was just sad that third edition was more accurate than second in this case. I really wanted to get my hands on some spelljammer ships.

My second base was actually the nearby vale of wyvernfalls. I had forgotten about seeding the wyverns. And while between the adventurers and full time longriders both the wyverns and a griffon problem had been stopped, it had been too late for the vale.

By the time I got the request for help they had all been slaughtered. It seems most of the wyverns I seeded had migrated to Wyvern Tor. It made me wonder if there was something attracting the wyverns beyond the artifact I found.

I actually had the easiest time staffing that place. I just named it Necropolis and stationed a few artisans there. My plan for it was simple. I was going to turn it into a very blatant undead factory.

I'm not really sure why no one else seems to have realized you can use a wish spell to learn any piece of information in existence. You don't even have to steal it. Just wish for a written copy of all the relevant information written on plain parchment. Maybe it's considered too mundane?

It doesn't really matter since I don't have a problem doing so. I just wish I had realized it years ago. Thanks to that I now know the secret to creating bone nagas, charnel hounds and even shadesteel golems. All things considered secret or lost.

And all originally to be used for Necropolis. The base itself was simple. I walled it off. Massive stone gates along with very tall towers around the entire perimeter. And since it's so isolated, there really isn't any reason for anyone to be arriving except by the main road.

Each tower is very slender, little more than an armored spiral staircase until it ends in a small chamber where the undead guardians usually lurk. The guardians are simple. A death tyrant along with a score of flame skulls.

The base of each tower actually leads underground into a very simple complex. A bound bone naga made from the strongest of the water nagas I had been experimenting on lies in the main chamber. It coordinates the defenses while supplementing it with necrocraft. An imprisoned troll for parts lies in a small side chamber. And a single heavily armored entrance tunnel for the necrocraft to emerge from.

I'd likely expand further into the Sword Mountains eventually, but for now there was no need. A massive black crystal pyramid dominates the vale and houses what is essentially a factory.

It's not easy. I have to use a number of deepspawn and even specially modify a few trolls for it to work, but in the end it's up and running. It's also not as fast as I'd like. However the products are spectacular.

I call them Corpse Wagons. Massive iron and crystal wagons patterned after death coaches. Instead of a horse it was pulled by a giant canine composed of wriggling bodies. A heavy ballista, actually a necrocraft, sits on top along with a pair of skeletons.

The inside was the true beauty. A modified rope trick every five feet gave me enough room to place all the necessary trolls. And a bound morgh sat in the center. Each troll was continuously butchered to produce rapidly regenerating bodies the morgh executes and animates them.

The wagon can produce a fairly formidable zombie on average of every forty seconds. Which is a terrifying rate in a battle. A single bone naga, selected for its intelligence, coordinates the zombies and it's own necrocraft.

I'm not actually certain if I'll ever get the chance to use them, but the idea wouldn't leave me. Besides it feels nice to know I can essentially create a zombie apocalypse if I need to. I'm not reckless though, all of the intelligent undead are bound to return if the wagon is destroyed. They also can't ever leave the wagon. Not perfect, but well enough as long as I don't deploy entire convoys of them.

Sadly I'm just able to produce shadesteel golems very easily. While I can certainly afford them now, I'm not ready to set up a base in a different dimension. Not even a planar bubble lets me get around that. At least the bone naga can make her own necrosis carnexes.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I probably should have expected it, but I was still surprised when I received a message from one of my commanders about being under attack. Surprisingly it wasn't Coruscant. After I had announced it's presence I had expected a rush of invaders. I suppose the lack of any goods being produced along with the Harpell reputation keeps people clear.

I guess it makes sense. Harpells are known for being reckless. Anything I felt was so dangerous that I felt it necessary to move to the middle of nowhere was bound to be hazardous. And if anyone was monitoring me, the explosion of raw energy using my staff nukes would have reinforced that impression. And of course it wasn't going to be evil, not with my family history.

Sometimes it's good to be Harpell.

No, of all places Ravenswood was under attack. I called the rest of my party. After all, anything that the nightwings couldn't defeat was going to be very dangerous. Covered in buffs and even bringing an artisan with a staff we teleported over.

At first I didn't see a threat. A whistling sound caught my attention and I saw the problem. It was both amusing and irritating at the same time.

Frost giants were bombarding the forest with rocks. Worse they were using massive siege engines to do it. I was all for slaughtering them until I saw they all had a symbol painted on their armor.

Fuck. I recognized it. Auril, the goddess of cold. This was a holy crusade. I should have realized this would catch Auril's attention. After all the fey cherry trees would keep the area around them from freezing.

And I can't chance just killing them all in case Auril decides to show up and just kill me in retaliation. I'm powerful but I'm not that arrogant. I doubt even a staff nuke will be enough to kill a god. Maybe if I'm lucky and she only uses an avatar. Not a gamble I willing to take.

As if to confirm my fears a group of what can only be clerics move forward and start chanting around one of the siege engines. I sigh and start handing out orders. This is going to tricky to deal with.

Fortunately it seems they only had two catapults. The only real source of wood was what they were currently attacking and given the graves I see they already tried to get closer. Which makes me feel better. I'd have been depressed if the kenku had turned out to be helpless.

That night we snuck into the camp. It was almost easy given just how many stealth spells we were under. Once inside we spread out. Everyone had their targets.

I could hear the yells as Usk started his part. In some ways the hardest he had the task of beating up the guards. He had to cause enough of a distraction to draw everyone's attention and then win without killing them. After all just how humiliating would it be to be beaten up by someone a third your size?

Kethra was assisting him, cutting belts and sandal straps as she snuck around. Geth and Mara were actually doing something much more insidious. They were killing and then animating all of their animals. It should be a nasty shock when they see the skeletons just standing in the pen.

Sadly Bidderdoo wasn't interested. It seems he was increasingly likely to join Regweld full time in his experiments. I really can't keep a tank. Good thing that's becoming increasingly less vital to my plans.

I took the siege engines. Unshrinking a beholder corpse and animating it I had it disintegrate them both. Meanwhile I had the artisan start sprinkling rust monster powder over every piece of metal we ran across.

Usk does a superb job as a distraction. With plenty of time we wander around and disintegrate their food stores, tents and even beds.

Let's see them keep attacking without any weapons or food. I knew it wouldn't permanently stop them but wasn't worried. In just a few short months the Godswar breaks out and then I'm safe from their whims.

I can wait until then. I've waited twenty years, what's a few more months?

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 8 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 2

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 6 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 7 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 10

Mara Ivy – Wizard 3 / Rogue 3 / Spellwarped Sniper 5 / Unseen Seer 4

Usk Harpell – Sorcerer 1 / Duskblade 7 / Bladesinger 7

Commander Cody - Wizard 4 / Fighter 1 / Arcane Archer 10 / Arcane Duelist 3


	17. Constructs

Chapter 16 Constructs

The frost giants are persistent, I'll give them that much. Even as the year draws to a close they attack twice more. Each time I drive them back the same way then repair the forest. I have plenty of time. With the onset of winter everything slows down.

Well everything but their attacks. I suppose it makes sense. After all they worship the goddess of winter.

Truthfully it's not much of a distraction. A few hours of work every couple of weeks leaves me way too much free time. Even backing up all of my creature templates across all of my bases doesn't take long.

I was bored and anxious, nervously waiting for the Godswar. Anticipating being rendered helpless due to the lack of magic was nerve-wracking. I couldn't even warn my family as that would likely draw very unwelcome divine attention.

So I went of vacation. It was actually inspired by a comment made by Malchor when he came by to see me. He congratulated me for getting rid of Klauth, stating how that had built me up some good will. Good will that I had almost immediately lost when my same defenses killed a bronze dragon.

It wasn't even my fault! The stupid thing actually tried to tear off the roof of my base. Of course my artisans treated him like an enemy! I still ended up getting visited by several people who felt I had acted too aggressively.

Fed up I decided to just wander around until people stopped stopping by just to lecture me. And so I ended up taking the girls and Usk and flying around and touring the realms. We wiped out a few bandit camps, but mostly played tourist. I also visited landmarks.

It was the last that gave me a new base. The Wailing Dwarf is an almost mile high statue carved into the side of a mountain. Within I found an entire ancient dwarven city. Even better I found that it had been largely taken over by guardian nagas.

After the stress of the last few months it was pretty relaxing to just cut loose and rampage through an entire city killing everything in the way. To secure the areas we had cleared I left a trail of bone nagas and flameskulls behind us. I saved the most powerful of them, but gladly used the rest.

In the end it was the flameskulls that won the day. Faced with endlessly regenerating undead that wielded fire the trolls retreated. Without them to hide behind the nagas were easy prey. Leaving only ghosts and unintelligent life to deal with. And ghosts are easy when you know as much necromancy as I do.

The fact that this was a former dwarven city influenced my choice of soldiers. Gathering several of the less promising derro I had them bound as watchghosts throughout the city. Then I installed my anvils of darkness. It was good timing since I had just about finished harvesting the giant iron golem I had made. Altogether I have almost 300 anvils.

I install 280 of them in the city. Enough that, staggered properly, every day two doomguards will be completed. And following the dopplegangers example I have them built like dwarves. It just seemed fitting.

The last couple I stash in Longsaddle. Those will be producing more human shaped doomguards to supplement the longriders in an emergency. Even if it isn't much, more backup is never a bad thing.

I don't stop there though. A few bound dwarven mummies provides me the craftsmen I need for the next part. That and the bronze dragon corpse. Equipment.

While they sadly can't normally wear armor, given the identical form of each doomguard it was worth having a craftsman precisely tailor a suit of armor just for them. It cost much more than even a masterwork suit of armor, but it was worth it.

The final suit of armor was a breastplate fashioned from the same unique hide the helmed horrors are fashioned from. Additionally they carry a large shield made from the same material and a mantle made from red dragonhide. All of which is dyed the same reddish brown as the stone the city is carved from. That stone is also why I named the base Geonosis.

The Wailing Guard as I'm calling them, all wield large shields made from more of that hide. They also each carry a dragonbone heavy crossbow and both a dragonfang dwarven waraxe and a dragonfang dagger made from the same organic hizakur the helmed horrors use.

The commanders, called Beastlords, commanded animated sword spiders augmented with fang dragon blood. The spiders were used more like weapon platforms than mounts, with two doomguards riding them, a driver and gunner. The gunner operated a dragonbow crank crossbow. It had a greek name but I couldn't remember it. Besides the name I gave it was perfectly accurate.

I also wanted to provide a bit more firepower so altered the binding on the flameskulls. Now the Beastlords could call on up to four to guard them when they leave the city. I also had a dendritic crystal helmet designed just for the flameskulls. I specifically included beards. After all they were representing dwarves.

I also can't wait to see peoples faces the first time it comes under attack and a horde of spiders and flying dwarf heads pours from the Wailing Dwarf's mouth.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Sadly sitting quietly was not something I was able to do. My forces in Mandalore had been steadily shifting the High Road eastward even after I stopped my tests. And I only found out about it when they reported coming under attack and discovered the remains of a band of adventurers.

Except they weren't adventurers or should I say not just adventurers. They were also Harpers. And my base didn't report the attack until after they had killed all of them.

I'm really regretting building the battle horrors right now. If nothing else I should have waited until later. Now I might end up exposed just as the Godswar breaks out.

No help for it. I pull out all of the battle horrors and helmed horrors. No point leaving anything leading back to the base. Then I start shifting what I'm constructing. I also rename the base Kuat. I'm not sure if the new name will be enough to break any sympathetic magic, but it can't hurt.

I also move the hydra to the Wailing Dwarf. Geonosis has a greater need for it anyway. About the only thing I can't move is the Forge of Spells.

Kuat now is focused on manufacturing skyships. A massive shipyard is steadily being constructed east of the base, further up the mountain. I had actually considered something like this before so it didn't take long to arrange.

A massive cavern was carved deep into the mountain and heavily warded. Then using the same process I created the Ravenswood with I grew an underground stand of Zalantar trees.

At least the undead troops hadn't been exposed. They can still work for my eventual toll bridge plans.

I have fun with the ships. Made from darkwood, they would be lighter than normal. They would also be very different from the Halruaan designs, instead going with a catamaran set up. The twin hulls would be narrow and allow additional entrances to be placed. After all its not like it needs to be waterproof.

The hold is a true work of art. My work with the rope trick was scaled up. A set of mordenkainen's magnificent mansions gave me all the room I could want. Combined with the ramps and entrances and I can rapidly deploy large numbers of troops.

Animating it allowed me to place a flight spell on it. Additionally I added sail to take full advantage of the Wind at Back spell I added. And finally a censer of commanding air elementals paired with a modified eversmoking bottle meant there was always a huge air elemental guarding the ship.

Hopefully I'll have at least one of them done by the time the Time of Troubles starts. Actually I can to this to a normal ship. Maybe I should get a port? The Gray Forest has some coastline.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

In the meantime I have to deal with my battle horrors. They're a little too independent to try and store for a year or so. So I need to keep them busy.

In the end I settled for Ascore and Hlaungadath. Ascore was an ancient dwarven city, long abandoned due to the spreading Anauroch desert. Hlaungadath was a former Netherese city that was actually located inside the desert.

Both cities had a terrible reputation, but none of the stories mentioned anything incredibly powerful such as dragons. So I set my battle horrors loose on them.

Their orders were simple. Go to Hlaungadath since it was the more isolated of the two and clear it out. Then repeat it at Ascore.

I sent them my newest unit, something I had rushed to get finished on time. I call them warstriders. The concept is simple enough. An animated suit of dendritic crystal armor. Then layered with permanent hardening and augment object spells. Turning it into a regenerating, nearly invulnerable war machine with it's hardness rating of forty.

Its weapon is also a perfectly suited to it. The massive morningstar was based off and made from the tail of the ankylosaurus' I modified for Dathomir. Then it was enlarged even further turn it into a properly sized two handed weapon. Finally it was enchanted to absorb any dispelling attempts to protect it's relatively fragile layers of enchantments.

I had just enough to assign one to each battle horror. Combined with the thirty helmed horrors it should be plenty.

I even know what I'm going to rename the cities once they're secured. It was an easy choice considering they were in a desert. Tatooine.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Despite how much I enjoyed designing and creating bases, too much of something gets boring. So I visited Aglarond. The Simbul herself came out to meet me. I was really glad she wasn't hostile like so many of the other chosen of Mystra were. She always was my favorite character in the series.

Seeing as how she lived up to my hopes and expectations and was friendly I gave her a gift. The right wing of Klauth, complete with his unique magical bracer that allowed him to wield three wands simultaneously. I couldn't hold back a laugh when she actually squealed in delight.

Definitely my favorite character.

My parting gift was because she was likely to end up fighting in Baator, against hordes of devils. While it had been one of my favorite books I can't deny she came close to dying several times.

It was a pair of bracers. To ensure they were appropriately considered jewelry, they had a change self enchantment that let her change their appearance. Functionally they had a number of enchantments the first of which was bracers of armor +8. Since she liked shapeshifting so much they also had imbued her natural attacks with keen.

It was extravagant, over the top and immediately made her a bit suspicious. But I didn't mind. Of all the characters she was one of the ones I actually made a note to help. Besides at least she didn't try to lecture me.

I answered her suspicions with vague replies and hints of a prophecy. After all my unique knowledge could be considered a prophecy if looked at the right way. It probably helped that I swore on Mystra's name that I had only good intentions towards her and her country.

And I'm not sure if it was Mystra rewarding me or now, but it was after that I had my epiphany. I don't need to train soldiers hoping they become powerful enough. There are plenty of powerful warriors I can harvest. No one pays attention to them because they're retired.

I need to start visiting taverns.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

At first I was tempted to try and obtain blood samples from everyone, but it didn't take long to realize the uselessness of that. No I needed specialists. People who excelled at a specific tactic or style of combat and I could deploy in large numbers.

Unfortunately my very first pick didn't work. The Simbul's griffonriders have an impressive reputation. It turns out that it isn't solely due to the rider. The griffons also undergo a ritual to bond and enhance them. Not something I can replicate with just deepspawn and undead.

Thankfully my next idea panned out. There were a lot of knightly orders. Finding ones that seemed serious about combat and focusing on the lance took time. Eventually it paid off and I tracked down a cavalier who seemed perfect..

He was old, partially crippled and drinking alone. He also had a formidable reputation and had reached fifteenth level. Impressive for a human who wasn't an adventurer.

He was also more than willing to swear service to me in return for an extended life. Even if he did have to be reincarnated as an elf. I left him back at Coruscant with orders to train until he had reached twentieth or mastered Unstoppable Charge.

I had been playing around with the Mount spell and although it raised the level I could now summon trained warbeast versions of various animals. A quick tattoo and he could summon his own mount up to three time a day. He was also given a tattoo to enhance any weapon held with the Valorous property, increasing damage on a charge and was mounted on a horse. After all I did want the best lancer possible.

I was surprised when the first two months passed and I received the mission complete message from my battle horrors. Tracking down my future lancer hdtaken more time then I realized. Teleporting over and checking the situation out was interesting.

My warstriders had more than proved themselves. Nine of them remained, out of the ten I sent. In contrast only one helmed horror was still intact and half the battle horrors had perished.

Overall impressed I listened to their report. Hlaungadath was easily secured. There were only lamias and gargoyles present, neither of which posed any danger. In fact they didn't take any losses and finished clearing the city in the first week.

It was Ascore that was the issue. There were several covens of hags in the ruins. Together they had commanded an entire army of various undead. The fighting was endless and they actually ran out of crossbow bolts more than once. Which is crazy since I had sent an entire crate, which held 4000 bolts, for each of them.

The fighting had slowed down, but the dragon had been the issue. Turns out a brown dragon laired in the middle of Ascore. Once the fighting reached him he started attacking everything. Killing him had been difficult, but they had done it.

Then two blue dragons appeared. Much younger, but they had caught them while recovering. Hearing the details I was very satisfied. They had done better than I suspected they would. I hadn't expected them to succeed with so few losses.

I opened a gate and sent through the reinforcements. An additional thirty warstriders. Also two of the dragonlords from the Forest of Wyrms. I was steadily replacing the originals with ones that had flying dragons. And since just discarding them was a waste they were perfect as reinforcements.

I would have sent all three, but only two had their armor altered so far. Green dragons don't really make much sense in a desert. So I had been altering them to brown. Definitely the right choice given what they encountered. It works even better since brown dragons can't fly.

Seeing how well the warstriders are doing I order several additional staves made with the spells used to create them. I wanted a steady stream of them being made. I also install deepspawn to start generating another dread army. I used the dwarven king Bruenor as my template. After all he killed a dragon and created aegis fang. Definitely what I want here to restore and defend the city.

I have the clone adjusted of course. Grafted brown dragon scales, shave off all the hair, and add burrowing claws and antennae. The cities are quickly set up to provide rockworm hide armor, shields and warhammers.

A magically sustained digester provides an endless stream of acid. Very precisely shaped dendritic crystals allow the growth of large throwing bottles balanced like a throwing hammer.

Combined with necrocraft armored wagons should be plenty to defend the city.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

I course that left me the problem of what to do with the remaining battle horrors. It didn't feel right to throw them away after they had succeeded so well. And then I had the perfect place for them.

One of the main benefits and also problems with my artisans were that although they were alive, they had virtually no initiative. And I just so happened to have constructs with an abundance of it. Now I wish more of them had survived.

Still I can probably skip a few places. Taris was small and very secure. It was also fairly static besides my visiting kin until the school I'm planning opens. Which won't be until after the Godswar.

Coruscant, Kuat and Konoha are in similar positions. They are also close enough I can afford to drop by and check on them. Maybe. I should probably have more troops placed near Longsaddle for escorts if nothing else.

Necropolis and Geonosis are isolated. No one really travels to either and the defenses are already decent.

So that really just leaves Endor which has dragons, Korriban with its legions, and Dathoir with its castles. That's reasonable. I send a Battle Horror to the last three bases. I place them in charge of defending them, especially if I'm not available.

I also send one to Tatooine. I'm not sure if I'm going to separate Ascore into another base, but for now I'm counting the two cities as a single unit.

The last battle horror I decide to repeat their last mission. After all they did very well in clearing out the cities. Securing me a place in Thesk shouldn't be too hard.

It takes less than a day for it to message me. Apparently it started by asking. And right away was told of two places considered inhospitable. After looking them both over I was very satisfied. Looks like I'm going to have a Mandalore after all.

There is a small mountain range in the very center of Thesk. It's also empty. As far as I could find nothing lives there. Well nothing intelligent. The exception is a few mining villages and even then they're tiny and clustered around the western end of the range.

I wasted no time. After all I can feel the clock ticking. All twelve delver simulacrums and a few beholders are summoned to start constructing my newest base. A necessity given the easily crumbled stone. Even as artisans start layering the privacy spells I'm designing the new army. They also place plenty of magical reinforcements along with walls of force along a few ceilings.

I think I'm going to use helmed horrors again. This time actually making them look like mandalorians. And for dread, maybe don't use them this time. The warstriders did really well before and gating them would be a pain. Why not have another group of them here?

Except if I was going to make mandalorians I should make something appropriate. Massive tanks seems just about right. Twenty feet wide, a raised prow like a ship and four sets of spiked treads. Perfect for just running over masses of normal troops.

On top I just mount a half dozen crank crossbows. And to run them I install a full set of anvils of darkness. Of course these doomguards will be made in the same style as the mandalorian armor, even if dwarf shaped.

I'm very glad I had gone ahead and didn't cancel any of my projects. Instead I have an artisan cast few minor spells every day when I finish meditating. The same three, all cast while I wash up. Until they stop working I'm going to keep expanding.

Which is why I now have the hundreds of anvils needed for Mandalore's army. I even managed to double the ones in the Wailing Dwarf.

Of course they'll need to do something to make sure Thesk doesn't mind their presence. Otherwise adventurers will end up becoming a problem.

So I leave some of the strongest magic items I had created with them. An incredibly powerful magical quiver based of the Quiver of Anariel. It generates arrows with a tribladed head, each edge made from alchemical silver, cold iron or adamantine. They were also enchanted to have +3 wounding properties.

However, that was only the first quiver. The others produced different arrows. The other four were similar though, all being +2 dragonfang splitting arrows. The difference was that each one was a different energy type. I had one for cold, fire, acid and lightning.

The quivers were all bound so that they would fail to work unless a staggering number of conditions were met. They couldn't be removed from the room I assigned. The person using it had to have my permission and wear my arcane mark. They had to be a helmed horror. And several more.

Combined with the dread warrior commanders who could create walls of iron and their economic contribution was secure. Troop wise I actually settled for one of the few gnolls I had in storage. They don't need discipline if they're being sent out in large mobs.

The tricky part was coming up with armor that made it obvious they were with the helmed horrors. Thank god of Ms Alont.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Not to say my time in Thesk was all work. The first time I saw a fell troll I fell in love. A sixteen foot regenerating figure with two heads. What wasn't there to like? I must have him.

Soon enough I had secured it and turned it over to Bidderdoo. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. And if nothing else I can now freely create huge sized blood hulks.

Which inspired me to create another base, this one at the east end of the mountain range. It was a bit of an odd mental leap but it reminded me of warhammer 40k. So I recreated the engineers. I don't remember their name, but I remember grafting and extra limbs. That and they are the ones who do the crafting.

Since I wasn't able to create war machines I settled for potions and alchemy. A few myconid colonies produced potions and a few bound grippli mummies serving a Regweld mummy created alchemical products.

The commanders were entertaining to design. I had them set up to create two pairs of dread limbs and then bind them as bodyguards and then attach them to the back of their armor. Not only will it give them four massive skeletal arms that will fight independently, it allows them to fly around.

I still wanted the equivalent of undead war machines so decide to use the wyvern drakes. So far despite how impressive creating flying skeletons had been, I hadn't incorporated them anywhere. Thesk would be perfect for them. With it's wide open terrain and a few feats uploaded they could easily swoop down and use their claws to shred everything they pass over. They'd be an aerial version of the tanks.

The best part is thanks to the weather there is an entire portion of the country rich in wildlife that no one lives in. Perfect for letting the wyvern drakes hunt in while they finish growing. After all a deepspawn can't swallow a hundred foot wyvern. It can barely manage a thirty foot one.

Still, they also needed foot soldiers so I was decided to fake Groundlings. Formerly dwarves who had been crossbred with badgers, Thay uses them as assassins. I just used Pwent. The almost feral dwarf was perfect for my needs. Burrowing claws, antennae and a few other grafts had him resembling a groundling. Given his favored armor I also had a small silence spell tattooed onto him.

Between giant wyverns and groundlings I have now doubt Thay would pay close attention to my base. But it doesn't matter. Once Mars and Mandalore are complete it'll take a full on invasion to do anything about them.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Gulril snuck down the tunnel, gently floating over the gravel floor. It as obvious from the color it had been deliberately placed there. A decent tactic, but worthless against a drow.

He had been stationed at this stupid outpost for months now. All just so they could take advantage of any opportunities that occur. As unlikely as that may be.

He was glad to be out. The bloody priestess assigned this time had a particularly shrill voice and her lectures left him with a headache. And with only three of them stationed there it wasn't like there was much to distract her.

She wasn't even attractive! At least the last one was decent to look at when she demanded his services. Now it was just more work.

So when he found activity and lots of it he was more than happy to check it out. He was glad he was on guard duty. If he hadn't been looking at just the right moment he likely would have missed it. Whoever it was, it dug fast.

It was only when the tunnel changed that he started to get worried. Before it was just a hole torn through the rock. Now it was evening out. Distinct walls and a floor forming from seamless stone. From the sounds at least a foot thick.

That implied something intelligent and powerful.

It was the shifting air and the very faint crackle of electricity that saved his life. He immediately ducked as a blade, the edges hissing with fire and crackling with electricity, swept through where his head had been.

Gulril dropped the floor and rolled back. As he rose to his feet four arcane bolts slammed into him, knocking him down. He rolled as the towering armored figure stabbed almost too fast to see with a short sword in each hand.

When he was stopped by another pair of armored feet he realized he had been herded. They were as strong as an ogre, easily disarming him and then carrying him deeper. The beholder, calming excavating more rooms, had him giving up any hope of escape.

He was not relieved to see the clearly human mage that awaited. When the mage reached out towards him with a glowing hand he only had one thought. _I probably should have taken Thay more seriously._

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Drow.

And not a raiding party, but an official outpost from a city. That's going to be a problem. Especially with that city. Phaundakulzan, one of ten drow cities all linked together by portals and essentially one giant city.

Not an enemy I can just scry and die against. But maybe I can use them. After all they're only three of them in the outpost right now. And the time of troubles is right about to happen.

No. That wouldn't work out well. Replacing Thay with a drow nation would not be beneficial. No, better to just wipe his memory and send him back. Maybe open up a very cautious trade agreement later on.

It'd be risky, but it wasn't like I was going to be able to avoid them. They're already in the mountain. Something to consider way later when it's not as dangerous.

Although their set up does give me ideas for creating something similar. Maybe with Rethild. I could call the resulting super-city Dagobah!Although I wasn't going to have any portals made until I knew it was safe and there wasn't a chance they would explode catastrophically.

 **O oooo - ooo - oo - o - O - o - oo - ooo – oooo O**

Pharaxes Harpell – Loremaster 8 / Blood Magus 10 / Mindbender 2

Bella von Delroy Harpell – Force Missile Mage 5 / Argent Savant 5 / Incantatrix 6 (PGtF)

Kethra Ivy – Assassin 7 / Fighter 2 / Whisperknife 5 / Master Thrower 5

Geth Ivy – Pale Master 6 / True Necromancer 10

Mara Ivy – Wizard 1 / Rogue 3 / Spellwarped Sniper 5 / Unseen Seer 6

Usk Harpell – Duskblade 7 / Bladesinger 8

Commander Cody - Wizard 2 / Fighter 1 / Arcane Archer 10 / Arcane Duelist 5


End file.
